Court Grants Retiree of the City of Niagara Falls Health Care
Matter of Derosa v. Dyster
Petitioner was a retired employee of the respondent, City of Niagara Falls. This CPLR Article 78 proceeding sought either post-employment health insurance coverage or opt-out payments in lieu of such coverage, pursuant to the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding between respondent and the union representing petitioner.
The court decided that there were no administrative remedies available to the petitioner when she first became aggrieved. She was aggrieved only after she retired, at that time there was no department head with whom she could file a grievance with. Therefore, petitioner could not have pursued a grievance through administrative remedies before commencing the proceeding.
The previous court erred in determining that the City must provide petitioner with opt-out payments as well as retroactive payments, in lieu of providing her with health insurance.
The court further decided that as a retiree, petitioner was entitled to enroll in the health care plan at no cost to her.
