Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said Friday that he’ll follow Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mandate by having all Borough Hall staff work from home in response to the coronavirus pandemic –two days after The Post reported he was forcing nearly his entire 65-member staff to commute and work at the office.
“Yesterday, the city gave us the technical solutions we have been seeking since the beginning of this emergency, to ensure our team can safely and equitably telecommute while keeping the essential constituent service of government going,” the 2021 mayoral contender said.
“Today, 75 percent of our workforce is working from home, in accordance with Governor Cuomo’s mandate yesterday, and the agency will move to 100 percent telecommuting as of Monday based on today’s new order.”
Adams on Wednesday confirmed that he was requiring 60 of his 65 employees to physically be at Borough Hall instead of working remotely at home, saying his office deals with over a hundred calls a day from constituents and that wasn’t set up for calls to be forwarded to staffs’ homes.
He also said it would have been unfair to move nonessential staff –- mostly senior employees who are paid more — to work remotely when lower-paid, mainly hourly employees had to come to work.
Only five workers with pre-existing medical conditions were previously allowed to work from home.
