The Appellate Division held that the arbitrator's imposing a disciplinary penalty suspending an educator for 15 days without pay had a rational basis and was supported by the evidence, which included:
1. The arbitrator reasonable determination that the educator was guilty of misconduct when he locked a 10-year old student out of the classroom and left him unsupervised in the hallway.
2. Finding that even were the educator justified in removing the student from the classroom, his actions in locking the student out of the room in a state of distress and leaving him in the hallway without adequate supervision, violated school policy.
The Appellate Division said that imposing a penalty of a 15-day suspension from employment did not shock its sense of fairness, citing Matter of Ghastin v New York City Dept. of Educ., 169 AD3d 507.
The decision is posted on the Internet at:
http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2020/2020_00976.htm
A Reasonable Disciplinary Penalty Under the Circumstances - Determining an appropriate disciplinary penalty to be imposed on an employee in the public service found guilty of misconduct or incompetence. For more information click on http://booklocker.com/7401.html
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