Responsibility, in contrast to authority, may not be delegated
Dougherty v. Hennessy, 82 A.D.2d
In a number of disciplinary cases involving supervisors, a defense that the work was given to a subordinate who failed to perform the task(s) is often raised by the supervisor.
In Dougherty the Appellate Division gave little weight to this type of defense, noting that Dougherty, a supervisor, “consistently attempted to absolve himself from blame by contending that he had delegated the tasks to his assistant or another ....This delegation, of course, did not relieve him of the obligation or the responsibility to see that the assignment was properly performed”.
The Court then affirmed Dougherty’s dismissal from his position.