Dismissing a probationary employee
Weintraub v NYC Board of Education, App. Div., 298 A.D.2d 595, Lv. to appeal denied, 99 N.Y.2d 507
The Weintraub case succinctly sets out what could be characterized as "black letter law" concerning the dismissal of a probationary employee.
The New York City Board of Education dismissed probationary teacher David H. Weintraub. Weintraub sued, only to have his petition summarily dismissed by a State Supreme Court judge.
The Appellate Division affirmed the lower court's ruling, indicating that:
As a probationary employee, [Weintraub] could be terminated without a hearing provided that the termination was not in bad faith, a consequence of constitutionally impermissible reasons, or prohibited by statute or case law.
The probationary employee bears the burden of establishing such bad faith or unlawful reason for his or her termination. However conclusory allegations of bad faith are insufficient to meet this burden and apparently all that Weintraub presented was what the court characterized as "conclusory allegations of bad faith."
In addition to confirming the lower court's dismissal of Weintraub's petition without a hearing, the Appellate Division commented that "[t]he termination of the petitioner's employment was not in bad faith or illegal."
The court's reference to the bar of termination prohibited by statute or case law includes the prohibition against terminating a probationary employee during his or her minimum period of probation without notice and hearing.
Where a probationary period has been set in terms of a minimum and a maximum period of probation, case law holds that if the appointing authority elected to terminate a probationary employee during his or her minimum period of probation, such an individual is entitled to a notice and hearing in the same manner as a tenured individual.
In contrast, a probationer terminated after completing his or her minimum period of probation may be terminated without notice and hearing prior to the completion of his or her maximum period of probation.