7.21 - Directors of facilities.
§ 7.21 Directors of facilities. (a) The director of a facility under the jurisdiction of the office of mental health shall be its chief executive officer. Each such director shall be in the noncompetitive class and designated as confidential as defined by subdivision two-a of section forty-two of the civil service law and shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the commissioner. Except for facility officers and employees for which subdivision (a) of section 7.19 of this article makes the commissioner the appointing and removing authority, the director of a facility shall have the power, within amounts appropriated therefor, to appoint and remove in accordance with law and applicable rules of the state civil service commission such officers and employees of the facility of which he is director as are necessary for its efficient administration. He shall in exercising this appointing authority take, consistent with article twenty-three-A of the correction law, all reasonable and necessary steps to insure that any such person so appointed has not previously engaged in any act in violation of any law which could compromise the health and safety of patients in the facility of which he is director. He shall manage the facility and administer its personnel system subject to applicable law and the regulations of the commissioner of mental health and the rules of the state civil service commission. Before the commissioner shall issue any such regulation or any amendment or revision thereof, he shall consult with the directors of the office's hospitals regarding its suitability. The director shall maintain effective supervision of all parts of the facility and over all persons employed therein or coming thereon and shall generally direct the care and treatment of patients. Directors presently serving at office of mental health facilities shall continue to serve under the terms of their original appointment. (b) Such director shall have the responsibility of seeing that there is humane treatment of the patients at his facility and shall investigate every case of alleged patient abuse or mistreatment. The director shall notify immediately, and in any event within three working days, the board of visitors of the facility and the mental hygiene legal service located in the same judicial department as the hospital, school, or institution of every complaint of patient abuse or mistreatment and shall inform the board and the mental hygiene legal service of the results of his investigation. If it appears that a crime may have been committed, the director shall give notice thereof to the district attorney or other appropriate law enforcement official as soon as possible, and in any event within three working days. (c) In any investigation into the treatment and care of patients or the conduct, performance, or neglect of duty of officers or employees, the director of a department hospital shall be authorized to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, administer oaths to witnesses, examine witnesses under oath, and require the production of any books or papers deemed relevant to the inquiry or investigation. A subpoena issued under this section shall be regulated by the civil practice law and rules. (d) Each facility director of the office shall, upon notice from the commissioner or upon knowledge that programs of such facility may be contracted or terminated, implement procedures to ensure timely notification to affected employees. Such procedures shall include, but not be limited to: (1) dissemination and posting of all decisions, policies and procedures with respect to all aspects of such actions and their impact on facility staff; and(2) compliance with all requirements and protection of employee rights pursuant to collective bargaining agreements with the designated legal representative of the employees and the civil service law. (e) Every facility director or designee thereof is authorized and empowered to grant leaves of absence to employees of such facility not involved in direct patient care who are volunteer firefighters as defined in subdivision one of section three of the volunteer firefighters' benefit law, responding to an emergency within the community for such periods as the volunteer firefighters are engaged in the actual performance of their duties as volunteer firefighters.