Any worker who continued to participate in the wildcat strike at prisons across New York after Monday's agreement with the state will no longer be able to be hired at any state service job, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul, who announced Tuesday that she signed an executive order putting the ban into effect.

The executive order also recommends these workers be removed from the Central Registry of Police and Peace Officers for cause. It means they would also be prevented from being hired as a police or peace officer in state and local jurisdictions.

This comes after the correction officer strike finally came to an end after 22 days. The strike involved four attempts at an agreement between the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association.

Hochul says currently there are more than 10,000 security personnel working at the state's correctional facilities with more than 6,000 members of the National Guard deployed to help maintain safety and security.

“My top priority is the safety and well-being of all New Yorkers — and I have been working around the clock to end this illegal work stoppage and restore safety in our correctional system,” Gov. Hochul said. “We have taken unprecedented steps to protect public safety, and I am grateful to the National Guard and DOCCS personnel who stayed on the job, going above and beyond to protect their fellow New Yorkers. Today, we can finally say this work stoppage is over and move forward towards making our prisons safer for all, supporting our correctional staff, and recruiting the correction officers of the future.”

Hochul's office says on Saturday, DOCCS and NYSCOPBA reached the fourth and final agreement to end the illegal walkout. The state did not reach the 85% threshold for correction workers returning to the job, however, the state is still recognizing components of this agreement as well as the March 6 agreement in full.

Components of the agreements that the state will honor include:

  • Allowing the Commissioner of DOCCS to exercise his existing discretion under the HALT Act and continue the temporary suspension of the programming elements of the HALT Act for 90 days from the date of the MOA
  • Minimizing and working towards eliminating 24-hour mandatory overtime
  • Establishing a committee to analyze each facility's staffing and operational inefficiencies with the goal of providing more relief to existing staff
  • DOCCS shall not issue notices of discipline under the collective bargaining agreement for an employee who engaged in the strike so long as the employee returned to work by the deadline.
  • Reiterating rescission of the 70/30 memo
  • Immediately reinstating the health insurance of any returning employee
  • Continue to pay the 2.5 times overtime rate originally established by mutual agreement on February 20, 2025, for 30 days from the date of the MOA
  • Allowing employees to purchase health insurance covering the full State share and employee share to the first day of AWOL/terminated health insurance
  • Establishing a committee comprised of representatives of NYSCOPВА and DOCCS and other parties to present recommendations to the New York State Legislature regarding changes to the HALT Act

The employees who did not return to work on Monday are being terminated with about 2,000 termination notices being sent out, according to Hochul's office.

Hochul says the focus will now be on supporting staff at correctional facilities and recruiting new correction officers. The following efforts are being expanded to increase recruitment and hiring of new correction officers:

  • Supporting correction officer trainees at New York’s Correction Officer Academy 
  • Introducing Article 7 language in this year’s Executive Budget to amend the public officers law, in relation to residency requirements for certain positions as a correction officer, allowing recruiting from other states which would greatly expand the number of potential applicants
  • DOCCS has contracted with OGS Media Services on a large-scale social media recruitment campaign that includes a multi-channel approach including social media, multicultural digital, streaming audio, video and static ads to better familiarize the public on DOCCS mission. The campaign went live in February 2025 targeting upstate NY community college campuses and military bases
  • DOCCS Statewide Recruitment Unit has been running Recruitment Centers in various locations and currently is operating Recruitment Centers in the Destiny USA mall (Syracuse) and Champlain Centre mall (Plattsburgh)
  • DOCCS launched an advanced placement initiative to attract applicants with Correction Officer experience into our Correction Officer ranks at a pay rate commensurate to their experience
  • In February 2025, the DOCCS Recruitment Unit collectively attended a total of 157 career fair and table events across colleges, high schools and community events
  • In July 2024, the Department launched “CNY200”, a regional hiring incentive promoting direct placement of Correction officer recruits to vacancies – a program that has been expanded to eight counties
  • The DOCCS recruitment team launched a new initiative to increase DOCCS applications into the NYS HELPs program, by collecting electronic resumes at career and community events and disseminating them to the facilities in their regions