N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 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. He or she shall manage the facility subject to applicable

law and the regulations of the commissioner of mental health. Before the

commissioner shall issue any such regulation or any amendment or

revision thereof, he or she shall consult with the facility directors

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 or her facility and shall

investigate, or cause to be investigated, every reportable incident in

accordance with article eleven of the social services law. Also in

accordance with article eleven of the social services law, the director

shall require allegations of reportable incidents to be reported to the

vulnerable persons' central register, which shall screen and immediately

forward reports that appear to allege crimes to the appropriate law

enforcement agency. The vulnerable persons' central register 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 neglect and shall

inform the board and the mental hygiene legal service of the results of

his investigation.

(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.