A Manhattan-based mega-security firm hired to protect everyone from Staten Island Ferry riders to NFL players works its bomb-sniffing K-9s like dogs while paying handlers peanuts, a slew of lawsuits charges.
MSA Security then uses the pooches as bargaining chips to keep abused handlers in line, threatening to yank the dogs if workers don’t comply, court papers allege.
The more than 250 plaintiffs include eight 9/11 responders and former Marine Joseph Colin McWilliams, who won a Purple Heart and Bronze Star during combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The plaintiffs are all past and current employees of MSA Security, which has $11 million in government contracts alone and deploys some 400 bomb-detecting dogs.
McWilliams and his canine regularly got just an hour of break time — split in two 30-minute periods — for their 1 p.m.-to-9 p.m. shifts aboard the Staten Island Ferry, Manhattan federal court papers say.
Former cop Soliman Eid of California said his black Labrador, Duke, had diarrhea for weeks after working 11-hour shifts during the 2017 NFL draft in Philadelphia, according to a fair-wage lawsuit targeting MSA in the Golden State.
“I love my dog. He’s one of the best dogs out there. He’s got a great nose, but he’s just tired,” Eid told The Post.
Randy Changco, who started the bomb-sniffing unit at the San Jose, Calif., Police Department after 9/11 and eventually became an MSA supervisor, said law enforcement officers typically take a 20-minute break with their work dogs every 30 minutes. He resigned from the company last year and is part of Eid’s suit.
McWilliams’ suit is one of two federal claims against MSA in Manhattan. There is a third lawsuit against the company in Texas.
The lawsuits collectively seek millions of dollars in damages.
The second Manhattan suit was filed by six former NYPD officers, including five 9/11 responders. One of the ex-cops, retired Sgt. Peter Brown, says he was not paid for the hours of daily training he did with his dog.
Handlers are given $400 monthly stipends for their dogs, though workers say the canines’ expenses routinely exceed the stipend.
And instead of kenneling the work dogs, many live at home with the handlers and their families, developing strong bonds, said Brown’s lawyer, Paul Aloe.
Brown claims MSA, which also provides security for Delta Air Lines, uses its ability to take the dogs away from their handlers “as direct and indirect threats for purposes of squelching dissent, maintaining ‘order in the ranks,’ and discouraging objection to and reporting of the ongoing, unlawful activities.”
The security firm has denied the claims in the federal suits.
“MSA reiterates its uncompromising commitment to maintain the humane treatment and well-being of each and every one of its canines,” said firm lawyer Anthony Galano.