City correction officers and supervisors who are absent without leave from their posts will face new, stiff penalties — after more than 20 percent of officers at Rikers Island took sick days Tuesday.
DOC Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi told workers Wednesday that any officer who AWOL will be suspended without pay for 30 days under a new City Hall executive order, according to an internal memo viewed by The Post.
The measure came a day after nearly 2,000 of the more than 8,300 officers assigned to Rikers Island didn’t report to work. The disclosure was made during a City Council hearing to address the dangerous deteriorating conditions at the jail.
“Of the 8,370 uniformed members of service, 1,789 of them were out sick yesterday. 112 of those were newly out sick, meaning it was their first day out … 68 staff members were out on a personal emergency, 93 were AWOL, meaning they did not let us know they were not coming in that day,” DOC Chief of Staff Dana Wax said.
As the throngs of COs were absent from work, dozens of units were without floor officers who work with guards to observe inmates, she said.
An exclusive Post report last week detailed brutal fights and unsupervised partying among inmates at the East River facility, which is slated to be shuttered and replaced by smaller jails in the boroughs in 2027.
Union leaders said the staffing crisis is being fueled by 1,300 COs that recently resigned due to “negligence” from City Hall.