Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor

Court Upholds Commission’s Decasualization of Checker.

September 07, 2010

On September 7, 2010, New York County Supreme Court Judge Judith J. Gische ruled in favor of the Commission, dismissing the Article 78 Petition of John Cambio. Mr. Cambio, a former checker, had challenged the Commission’s order to deny his request for retention on the longshoremen’s register after he failed to meet the register’s work and work availability requirements. A copy of the Court’s Decision/Order is attached.

Mr. Cambio was removed from the longshoremen’s register pursuant to McKinley’s Unconsolidated Laws, Sections 9834 and 9835, which requires checkers and other “deep-sea” longshoremen to work or apply for work during six-month intervals for a minimum number of days established by the Commission. Checkers and other longshoremen who fail to meet these requirements may be removed from the longshoremen’s register in a process referred to as “decasualization.” The purposes of decasualization are to balance the supply of eligible longshoremen with the demand for labor and to remove casual workers who threaten the earning power of other longshoremen.

Mr. Cambio had failed to meet the work and work availability requirements during the six-month period from January 1, 2009 up through and including June 30, 2009. The Commission argued that Mr. Cambio’s commitments to employment outside the waterfront were not “good cause” for failing to meet the work and work availability requirements. In addition, the Commission argued that Cambio should not receive work credit for holidays when he did not work on the waterfront. The Court agreed with the Commission; finding that the Commission’s actions had a rational basis and were neither arbitrary nor capricious.

 

 

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