NASSAU COBA WINS LARGEST FINANCIAL SETTLEMENT OF A CLASS ACTION GRIEVANCE IN IT'S HISTORY

Nassau COBA is very proud to report that it has negotiated with the County a financial settlement in regard to the retroactive wage grievance. COBA brought this litigation forward in an effort to hold the County accountable for the delay in paying retroactive wages to our members. In total, the County will pay to our members $344,956.19 for that delay. This amount will be payable to each member who received retroactive wages in direct proportion to the total retroactive wages each member received in May 2024. The higher the retroactive wages you received, the greater your share of this amount, which will be made as a regular wage payment.  

To calculate your share of the $344,956.19, you take the gross pre-taxed retroactive wages you received (again, before taxes), and multiply that number by .01875. For example, if your gross retroactive wages was $25,000, you would receive a gross total of $468.75 as a regular wage payment.

In considering this settlement we considered the alternative, which was to go forward in front of an arbitrator. In this case, we know there is no certainty in what an arbitrator may do or how they may view the “on or about” clause. Even if we did prevail on the merits, it could take years of litigation in court when the County would appeal any award. Even if we were to be successful at arbitration, no payment would be made until that litigation ended. The certainty of this settlement to us and payment to the membership very soon, outweighed that very realistic delay and uncertainty in litigation. As the headline reads, this is by far the largest financial award achieved by COBA for its membership in the history of our Union.

This settlement gives COBA the following:

-The LARGEST Class Action monetary award in the history of this Union.

-Ensures COBA will continue to hold the County accountable to what it agrees too.

-Members will not have to wait through a long, length legal process.

-As this was the very first Grievance filed by this new Executive Board, shows the County that COBA will fight for the contractual rights of our membership.

We will work with the County to ensure this payment is made ASAP and will keep you updated on when this payment will be made to you. To that end, within moments of the signing of the settlement agreement, it was sent to the comptroller's office. We also received the assurances from the Office of Labor Relations that it would push to get the payment made without any undue delay.