Employee disciplined for off-duty misconduct
OATH Index No. 1304/13
An OATH Administrative Law Judge ruled that a New York City correction officer was subject to disciplinary action because there was a sufficient nexus between the employee's fraudulent off-duty misconduct and his position with the New York City Department of Correction.
Disciplinary charges were filed against a correction officer who had pled guilty to operating a home improvement business without a license. The officer had been arrested and indicted on charges of grand larceny in the third degree, a class D felony, and
petit larceny, a class A misdemeanor. He subsequently entered a guilty plea to a violation of the New York City Administrative Code.
ALJ Ingrid M. Addison found that the correction officer used the name and license number of a corporation with which he was not affiliated to hold himself out as a licensed contractor, contracted with a home owner, took a $35,000 advance, and failed to perform the work under the contract.
The ALJ also found that the correction officers off-duty conduct “violated the Department’s rules and was of a nature to bring discredit upon the Department [and] his conduct [bore] a nexus to his job as a correction officer.
Noting that the officer made restitution to the home-owner “only when he faced significant jail time,” Judge Addison recommended termination of the officer’s employment.
The decision is posted on the Internet at:
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