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June 14, 2017

Failure to testify concerning the event permits a disciplinary hearing officer to draw the strongest inference against the individual permitted by the record



Failure to testify concerning the event permits a disciplinary hearing officer to draw the strongest inference against the individual permitted by the record
Varriale v City of New York, 148 AD3d 650 

The New York City Board of Education terminated Suzanne Varriale's employment as a tenured school teacher.

The Appellate Division affirmed the Board of Education's determination noting that although Varriale "was a thirteen-year employee with no prior disciplinary history, and no charges had ever previously been preferred against her, the penalty of termination was not shocking to one's sense of fairness" in light of the seriousness of the charges filed against her and the fact that the record showed that Varriale "had strayed from her duties as a school teacher by deliberately escalating a confrontation with a student by yelling expletives and threatening him with violence."

Noting that Varriale "showed no remorse nor appreciation for the seriousness of her conduct to support a finding that she would not engage in similar conduct if faced with such circumstances in the future," the Appellate Division held that as she declined to take the stand to testify concerning the event, "the hearing officer was permitted to draw the
strongest inference against her permitted by the record."

The decision is posted on the Internet at:
http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2017/2017_02513.htm

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