For city bus drivers, getting spat on triggers time off

Some bus drivers are taking time off at full pay after a rider spits on them, with such assaults causing workers to miss a whopping two months on average last year, MTA officials said Monday.

And it's all OK, according to the NYC Transit rule book.

"That's excessive," said Don Preister, a rider from Manhattan, who said he's been spat on.

Last year, spitting was to blame for one-third of the 153 work-related assaults in the city's buses, agency figures show. There were 83 spitting incidents, with 51 bus drivers taking time off to recover. Some bus drivers called out for just one day, but one case dragged on for 191 days, a transit spokesman said.

"You have to look at every case individually. If someone spits on your pants, it's a lot different from being spit on your face," said Joe Smith, transit's bus chief, who said the agency needs to "look at" whether spitting should still be classified as an assault.

Drivers are paid about $28 an hour, with the agency having to sub in regular workers or pay overtime to make up for the person who is off work.

"It's unfair, especially if it's paid leave," said Felix Lugo, 20, a rider from the Bronx.

Under transit rules, assault victims are eligible for full pay and as much as two years off, union officials said. An employee's doctor and an MTA doctor must confirm that the spitting caused trauma, or the case goes before a judge. But the driver does need to produce a witness for the attack, the MTA said.

MTA doctors tend to only dole out days off if there's legitimate reason, union officials said.

"I would take work off. What if the spit has a disease or a virus?" said Santos Garcia, a Brooklyn bus driver for 10 years. Spitting attacks are up, with cases of "body fluid exposure" increasing by 27 percent between 2008 and 2009, according to union figures. TWU officials expect the spitting to get worse after the service cuts go into effect in June, as riders often take out their rage on drivers, they said.

"They take a lot of abuse," said J.P. Patefiorio, a union leader who has driven a bus for years. With Katherine Lieb