By Mariel S. Clark
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — An unusual MTA policy lets dozens of city bus drivers take months of paid time off after being spat at by a passenger, officials revealed at a committee meeting Monday, according to media reports.
Under the contract rules with Transport Workers Union Local 100, the MTA considers spitting an assault and allows workers to get paid time off.
Last year, 51 bus drivers took time off after being spat upon, at an average of 64 days off for each incident, MTA officials said, according to the New York Post.
Although some of the drivers took only a single day off at least one driver took 191 days — more than half a year — paid time away from work, the paper reported.
The news came even as the MTA planned lay-offs, fare increases and service cuts in an attempt to close a massive budget deficit.
Both union leaders said the situation would worsen as passenger frustration over transit cuts grew, NY1 reported.
"If the MTA is unhappy right now with the amount of assault claims that local 100 members put in, they need to brace themselves because the unnecessary service cuts they just engaged in are going to increase the assaults dramatically," Union President John Samuelsen told NY1.
