New York Public Personnel Law: Appointing authority must have the transcript of the disciplinary hearing available to it before it can make its determination

August 16, 2011

Appointing authority must have the transcript of the disciplinary hearing available to it before it can make its determination

Appointing authority must have the transcript of the disciplinary hearing available to it before it can make its determination

Ernst v Saratoga County, 234 AD2d 766

In Ernst the court annulled a disciplinary determination dismissing the employee because each individual member of the appointing authority, a board, was not given a complete copy of the Section 75 hearing transcript for review prior to the board makings its determination.

The court said that the entire matter should be returned to the board for a de novo determination based on the record made during the disciplinary proceeding.

The appointing authority, after reconsidering the matter, again found Ernst guilty and, again, imposed the penalty of dismissal. The determination was sustained on appeal from the Board’s subsequent decision [Ernst v Saratoga County, 251 AD2d 866].

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