Local law permitting suspension of an employee without pay beyond the 30 days permitted by Civil Service Law Section 75 held controlling

Local law permitting suspension of an employee without pay beyond the 30 days permitted by Civil Service Law Section 75 held controlling
Meringolo v Jacobson, 256 AD2d 20

Section 75(3) of the Civil Service Law authorizes the suspension of an individual upon whom disciplinary charges have been filed for up to 30 days without pay.* If the hearing has not been completed by the 30th day, the individual must be restored to the payroll. But what if a local law provides more flexibility? Which law takes precedence? The Meringolo shows that the answer depends on the details of the legislative history, including which law was enacted first.

Meringolo, a corrections captain, was suspended from his job with New York City for more than 30 days. Administrators cited City Administrative Code Section 9-112, which provides that a member of the city’s uniformed forces may be suspended without pay “while criminal charges are pending.”

When Meringolo challenged the legality of his suspension, the city cited Section 76(4) of the Civil Service Law, which provides that nothing in Section 75 shall be construed to “repeal or modify” any local law. The city claimed it could therefore legally suspend the captain without pay for than the 30-day period, as authorized by Section 75 pursuant to Section 9-112. The Appellate Division, upholding a lower court’s ruling, disagreed.

The court said the problem in the city’s reasoning was that Section 9-112 was not enacted until after Section 76(4) was legislated. Section 76(4) can be thought of as a “grandfather clause” that applies only to local laws enacted before its effective date. This implies that had Section 9-112 been in place prior to the adoption of Section 76(4), it would have been “grandfathered” and probably survived judicial review.

The Appellate Division affirmed the Supreme Court’s order directing the city to restore the captain to its payroll and pay him the back salary due him for the period of his suspension without pay in excess of 30 days.

* Disciplinary grievance procedures set out in a collective bargaining agreement may permit the suspension of an employee without pay pending the resolution of disciplinary charges. Also, Education Law Section 3020-a.2(b) authorizes an educator against whom charges have been filed to be suspended without pay if the individual has entered a guilty plea to or has been convicted of a felony crime involving “the criminal sale or possession of a controlled substance, a precursor of a controlled substance, or drug paraphernalia as defined in article two hundred twenty or two hundred twenty-one of the penal law; or a felony crime involving the physical or sexual abuse of a minor or student.”
NYPPL