2023 New York Laws › MHY - Mental Hygiene › Title B - Mental Health Act › Article 7 - Office of Mental Health › 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.