Members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) claim that the MTA is storing dead bodies in break rooms after they have been recovered from subway tracks.
The story was first broken by The Chief-Leader, a newspaper that specializes in labor union coverage.
"You have pieces, you have blood spatter," said Derek Echevarria, the vice president of TWU Local 100. "It could be any contamination or disease."
Officials for the transit union say employees are subjected to seeing both body parts and whole bodies out in the open without warning.
The group's vice president said leaving the bodies out is not only disrespectful to the deceased and their families, but the discoveries often leave workers traumatized.
"These are bathrooms, facility rooms, break rooms — anybody can just walk in without notice," Echevarria said. "And that is another part of ending the service, because they're usually sent home by what they've seen, what they've touched."
MTA sources told NY1 that the NYPD responds instantly when a train hits someone.
However, they told us bodies are not stored in break rooms, but instead officers place them in non-public spaces while they wait for the medical examiner.
The medical examiner said it takes them about an hour to recover bodies from non-hospital scenes.