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ALTHOUGH PETITIONER’S USING HIS CELL PHONE WHILE ON DUTY TO SEND EXPLICIT MESSAGES VIOLATED THE EMPLOYEE’S MANUAL AND WARRANTED PUNISHMENT, TERMINATION WAS TOO SEVERE A PENALTY (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, modifying Supreme Court, over a dissent, determined that petitioner, a civil service employee, was properly found to have violated the Employee’s Manual by using his cell phone while on duty to send explicit messages. However, termination was deemed too severe a penalty and the matter was remitted. The dissent argued termination was proper:

“Judicial review of an administrative penalty is limited to whether, in light of all the relevant circumstances, the penalty is so disproportionate to the charged offenses as to shock one’s sense of fairness” … . Petitioner was employed by respondent for 21 years at the time of the hearing and had a generally unremarkable disciplinary history….  Further, there is no indication that the messages were disseminated to any of his colleagues or subordinates or that there was a significant impact on the performance of his duties. To the contrary, the record establishes that petitioner consistently received strong evaluations for his work performance. Further, the record establishes that petitioner expressed remorse to respondent’s investigators, noting that he was not proud of his conduct, which he characterized as “unprofessional and even inappropriate.” Under these circumstances, we find that the penalty of termination “is so disproportionate to the offense and shockingly unfair as to constitute an abuse of discretion as a matter of law” and, accordingly, we remit the matter for consideration of a less severe penalty … . Matter of Brooks v New York State Dept. of Corr. & Community Supervision, 2023 NY Slip Op 03962, Third Dept 7-27-23

Practice Point: A civil service employee’s violation of general provisions of the Employee’s Manual, here the employee’s use of his cell phone to send explicit messages while on duty, warranted punishment . But termination was deemed too severe.

 

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