In describing the thrust of New York State's Correction Law §752 the Appellate Division said §752 prohibits unfairly discriminating against persons previously convicted of one or more criminal offenses absent "a direct relationship between the offense(s) and the duties or responsibilities inherent in the license or employment sought or held by the individual, or such employment or license poses an unreasonable risk to the public" after consideration of certain enumerated elements set out in the statute.
The New York City Transit Authority [NYCTA] denied a former employee [Plaintiff] re-employment because he had been convicted of criminal possession of a firearm.
Plaintiff brought a CPLR Article 78 action and subsequently appealed Supreme Court's dismissal of his petition seeking a court order directing NYCTA to approve his application for reemployment. The Appellate Division sustained the Supreme Court's ruling, noting that NYCTA "reasonably determined" that Plaintiff's re-employment would pose an unreasonable risk.
The court explained that when making its determination under color of §752, the public employer must consider the eight enumerated factors set out in Correction Law §753(1). These include, but are not limited to, considering the specific duties and responsibilities related to the employment sought, the age of the person at the time of the criminal offense, the seriousness of the offense, and information produced by the person with respect to his rehabilitation and good conduct.
In its decision the court referred to an affidavit submitted by NYCTA's Director of Employment Operations for Human Resources indicating that NYCTA had reviewed the recommendation letters and certificates submitted by Plaintiff in support of his reemployment by NYCTA but had decided not to re-employ Plaintiff after considering all of the relevant factors including:
[1] The duties and role of the position Plaintiff was seeking;
[2] Plaintiff's prior work history with NYCTA;
[3] The seriousness of Plaintiff's prior misconduct; and
[4] The amount of time that had elapsed since Plaintiff's misconduct.
Citing Bonacorsa v Van Lindt, 71 NY2d 60, the Appellate Division observed that a finding of unreasonable risk "depends upon a subjective analysis of a variety of considerations relating to the nature of the license or employment sought and the prior misconduct."
The Appellate Division opined that NYCTA's determination that Plaintiff would pose an unreasonable risk because "he was convicted of criminal possession of a firearm only two years before seeking re-employment with NYCTA and he sought a role that required unsupervised contact with the public and other employees" was reasonable and unanimously affirmed the Supreme Court's ruling.
Click HEREto access the Appellate Division's decision.