An Office of Mental Health [OMH] employee [Petitioner] was served with a notice of discipline [NOD] charging Petitioner with misconduct and, or, incompetency alleging that he struck and kicked a service recipient.*
Pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement between Petitioner's Collective Bargaining Organization and OMH, a disciplinary hearing was held before an arbitrator, during which hearing videos of the incident were shown. After the hearing, the arbitrator found that OMH failed to establish that Petitioner "either kicked or punched" the service recipient and concluded that the service recipient "was the sole aggressor during the ... incident."
After the disciplinary hearing, Petitioner's requested New York State Justice Center
Respondent denied Petitioner's request and untimely the matter was considered at a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge [ALJ]. The ALJ issued a recommended decision finding that Respondent had met its burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that Petitioner had committed the alleged physical abuse, finding that Petitioner had "pushed the service recipient, causing her to fall to the floor, and then he kicked her."
Respondent adopted the findings of the ALJ and denied Petitioner's request to amend the substantiated report. Petitioner then commenced a CPLR Article 78 proceeding in Supreme Court seeking a court order annulling Respondent's decision. Petitioner contended that [1] the ALJ erred in failing to apply the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel with respect to the arbitrator's determination in adjudicating the matter and [2] Respondent's determination was not supported by substantial evidence. Supreme Court transferred the matter to the Appellate Division.
The Appellate Division commenced its review of Petitioner's appeal by noting that the parties concur that "the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel apply to arbitration awards and preclude subsequent litigation of a claim or issue decided in a prior arbitration against a party or those in privity."
In this Article 78 action the Appellate Division said that the dispute between Petitioner and Respondent "centers on whether there was an identical claim or issue decided in the arbitration decisive of the administrative proceeding before the ALJ." Petitioner contended that the arbitrator addressed whether his conduct throughout the underlying incident amounted to physical abuse of the service recipient while Respondent argued that the arbitrator only resolved whether Petitioner struck and/or kicked the service recipient after she fell on the floor, but not whether he pushed her to the floor in the first instance.
In support of its argument, Respondent contended that [1] the NOD did not specify that Petitioner pushed the service recipient; [2] the arbitrator never decided that aspect of the underlying incident, which [3] left the issue open for resolution at the hearing before the ALJ.
The Appellate Division rejected Respondent's "factual parsing of the incident" and concluded that the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel precluded the ALJ from deciding again whether Petitioner's conduct amounted to physical abuse of the service recipient.
Citing D'Arata v New York Cent. Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 76 NY2d 659, the court explained that the underlying purpose of the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel is to "prevent[] repetitious litigation of disputes which are essentially the same." The Appellate Division said that it found it significant that Respondent issued its "Report of Substantiated Finding" — which included findings that Petitioner pushed, hit and/or kicked the service recipient — a week before OMH issued the NOD, which document referenced the case number from Respondent's report. Although there was no transcript of the arbitration, the court said that "certainly counsel for [Respondent], who [also had] represented OMH, was privy to the report."
The Appellate Division then opined that "[b]oth the report and the NOD specified that Petitioner's conduct amounted to 'physical abuse' pursuant to Social Services Law §493(4)(b), i.e., the claim was the same in the arbitration and in the administrative proceeding before the ALJ" conducted pursuant to §494[1][a] of the Social Services Law.
Indicating that the arbitrator reviewed the underlying event and determined that the service recipient fell to the floor and was the sole aggressor, the Appellate Division said it concluded that Respondent was precluded under principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel from relitigating the question of whether Petitioner physically abused the service recipient by pushing her to the floor in the course of the subsequent administrative hearing.
Thus, said the court "[i]t follows that [the] petition to annul Respondent's determination should be granted and the Respondent's determination annulled. Accordingly, the matter was remitted to Respondent for amendment of the findings to state that the report was unsubstantiated and for compliance with the requirements of Social Services Law §494.
* This conduct was also characterized as category three physical abuse within the meaning of Social Services Law §493(4)(c).
** Social Services Law §494[1][a] provides a means to process "Amendments to and appeals of substantiated reports of abuse or neglect.
The decision is posted on the Internet at: