In this appeal challenging an adverse disciplinary decision following an administrative hearing on the various allegations of misconduct and insubordination filed against the Petitioner pursuant to Civil Service Law §75, the Appellate Division found that the misconduct findings by the hearing officer were supported by substantial evidence.
Citing Matter of Wales v City of Saratoga Springs, 200 AD3d 1262, the court explained that substantial evidence is "a minimal standard that requires less than [a] preponderance of the evidence and demands only the existence of a rational basis in the record as a whole to support the findings upon which the determination is based."
Addressing the penalty imposed on the Petitioner, termination, the Appellate Division, considering Petitioner's nearly a 30-year career with the employer and her "positive personnel record," concluded that imposing the penalty of termination was not '"so disproportionate to the offense, in the light of all the circumstances, as to be shocking to one's sense of fairness," citing Matter of Pell v Board of Educ. of Union Free School Dist. No. 1 of Towns of Scarsdale & Mamaroneck, Westchester County, 34 NY2d 222.
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