If someone came up to you right now at work and spat on you, how much time do you think you'd deserve off of work—assuming you didn't just up and quit, because they surely don't pay you enough to be a human spittoon? Well, if you're a city bus driver, you're probably going to need at least a month or two to pull yourself together. According to Joe Smith, the senior vice president of buses for NYC Transit, bus drivers who were spat on by riders got an average two months paid time off last year. Too much, or not enough?
Getting spit on is deeply unsettling, and it's something you never forget. But as part of an agency-wide effort to cut back on paid sick time and excessive overtime abuse, MTA brass is going to be looking carefully at how much time bus drivers take off post-expectoration. In 2009, 51 drivers took an average 64 paid days off after being spit upon, which is classified as assault.
"I don't envy anyone [who is spat upon]... but you have to wonder if you can go home and shower off, take a nap, take off the rest of the day and maybe the next day," MTA board member Nancy Shevell said at a recent meeting. "When it gets strung out for months, you start to wonder."
