Court vacates dismissal as too harsh a penalty after considering employee's work record

Court vacates dismissal as too harsh a penalty after considering employee's work record
Currithers v Mazzullo, 258 AD2d 460

School bus driver Steadman Currithers pled guilty to driving while his ability was impaired. He was served with disciplinary charges of misconduct and incompetence based on this conviction. Found guilty, the penalty imposed was dismissal from his position as school bus driver. Currithers appealed and won an annulment of the penalty the district had imposed.

The Appellate Division ruled that although Currithers was guilty as charged, the penalty imposed offended the Pell standard [Pell v Board of Education, 34 NY2d 222].

The court said that while the finding that Currithers was guilty of misconduct is supported by substantial evidence, under all of the circumstances of this case, “including the fact that this incident was an isolated act in an otherwise unblemished record of 15 years employment, and in light of [Currithers] unblemished driving record on and off the job prior to this incident, the penalty of dismissal is shocking to one’s sense of fairness” [the Pell standard]. It remanded the matter to the district with instructions that it “impose a new penalty other than dismissal.”
NYPPL