Hearing officer recommends termination of employee unwilling to follow instructions
Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development v Hand, OATH Index #2594/10
OATH Administrative Law Judge Kara Miller decided that a clerical employee's persistent unwillingness to properly process tenant appointments warranted termination.
Judge Miller found that the employee, Deborrah Hand, had improperly processed 112 appointments despite the fact that she had been given step-by-step instructions on how to do the task.
Hand, instead, “deliberatively chose to do it her own way.” As a result of Hand's failure to make proper computer entries complaints were automatically closed out and inspectors were not sent to scheduled inspections.
Consequently, Housing received complaints from tenants who waited at home for inspectors who never came.
Judge Miller recommend that Hand be terminated because of her unwillingness to follow instructions “constituted incompetence.” The ALJ also commented that Hand’s incompetence “cannot be cured by moving her to another job title.”
The decision is posted on the Internet at:
http://archive.citylaw.org/oath/10_Cases/10-2594.pdf
NYPPL