N.Y. MHY Law § 7.21 — New York Code / Act MHY / Title B / Article 7 / Section 7.21
Directors of facilities
Status: in_force

§ 7.21 Directors of facilities.\n  (a) The director of a facility under the jurisdiction of the office of\nmental health shall be its chief executive officer. Each such director\nshall be in the noncompetitive class and designated as confidential as\ndefined by subdivision two-a of section forty-two of the civil service\nlaw and shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the\ncommissioner. He or she shall manage the facility subject to applicable\nlaw and the regulations of the commissioner of mental health. Before the\ncommissioner shall issue any such regulation or any amendment or\nrevision thereof, he or she shall consult with the facility directors\nregarding its suitability. The director shall maintain effective\nsupervision of all parts of the facility and over all persons employed\ntherein or coming thereon and shall generally direct the care and\ntreatment of patients. Directors presently serving at office of mental\nhealth facilities shall continue to serve under the terms of their\noriginal appointment.\n  (b) Such director shall have the responsibility of seeing that there\nis humane treatment of the patients at his or her facility and shall\ninvestigate, or cause to be investigated, every reportable incident in\naccordance with article eleven of the social services law. Also in\naccordance with article eleven of the social services law, the director\nshall require allegations of reportable incidents to be reported to the\nvulnerable persons' central register, which shall screen and immediately\nforward reports that appear to allege crimes to the appropriate law\nenforcement agency. The vulnerable persons' central register shall\nnotify immediately, and in any event within three working days, the\nboard of visitors of the facility and the mental hygiene legal service\nlocated in the same judicial department as the hospital, school, or\ninstitution of every complaint of patient abuse or neglect and shall\ninform the board and the mental hygiene legal service of the results of\nhis investigation.\n  (c) In any investigation into the treatment and care of patients or\nthe conduct, performance, or neglect of duty of officers or employees,\nthe director of a department hospital shall be authorized to subpoena\nwitnesses, compel their attendance, administer oaths to witnesses,\nexamine witnesses under oath, and require the production of any books or\npapers deemed relevant to the inquiry or investigation. A subpoena\nissued under this section shall be regulated by the civil practice law\nand rules.\n  (d) Each facility director of the office shall, upon notice from the\ncommissioner or upon knowledge that programs of such facility may be\ncontracted or terminated, implement procedures to ensure timely\nnotification to affected employees. Such procedures shall include, but\nnot be limited to:\n  (1) dissemination and posting of all decisions, policies and\nprocedures with respect to all aspects of such actions and their impact\non facility staff; and\n  (2) compliance with all requirements and protection of employee rights\npursuant to collective bargaining agreements with the designated legal\nrepresentative of the employees and the civil service law.\n  (e) Every facility director or designee thereof is authorized and\nempowered to grant leaves of absence to employees of such facility not\ninvolved in direct patient care who are volunteer firefighters as\ndefined in subdivision one of section three of the volunteer\nfirefighters' benefit law, responding to an emergency within the\ncommunity for such periods as the volunteer firefighters are engaged in\nthe actual performance of their duties as volunteer firefighters.\n