Selected reports and information published by New York State's Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli during the week ending November 24, 2013

Selected reports and information published by New York State's Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli during the week ending November 24, 2013 Click on text highlighted in color  to access the full report Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Municipal Audits New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli Thursday announced his office completed audits of   the Town of Almond; the Town of Big Flats; the Town of Conesus; the Town of Ellenburg; the Town of Ellicott; the Essex County; the Town of Laurens; the Town of Lincoln; the Town of Minetto; the Town of Mount Pleasant; the Town of New Baltimore; the Rush Fire District; the Town of Stanford; the Town of Wawarsing; and  the Village of Woodridge. DiNapoli: State Agency Overtime Tops $462M; Could Hit Record $600M by Year End State agencies spent more than $462 million on overtime in the first nine months of 2013, a jump of $65 million over the same period in 2012, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced Tuesday. DiNapoli Shareholder Resolution Calls on AT&T to Disclose Surveillance Requests The $160.7 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund has filed a shareholder resolution at AT&T Inc. asking the company to disclose how often and what consumer information it has shared with U.S. or foreign governments, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced Wednesday. The resolution will be voted on at the company’s 2014 annual meeting scheduled for late April. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s Marjorie Tsang Named Woman of the Year Marjorie Tsang, director of strategic research and solutions for the New York State Common Retirement Fund, received the Woman of the Year Award from New York Women Executives in Real Estate (WX). The award was presented at WX’s annual gala on Thursday night following an introduction by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. DiNapoli: Audit Reveals Fiscal Stress in City of Fulton The city of Fulton has spent down its rainy day funds to dangerously low levels, leaving city officials little cushion to manage unforeseen expenses, according to an audit released Friday by State Comptroller Thomas P DiNapoli. Earlier this year, DiNapoli’s fiscal stress monitoring system identified the city as one of nine communities in “moderate stress.” NYS Common Retirement Fund Announces Second Quarter Results The New York State Common Retirement Fund’s estimated rate of return for the second quarter ending September 30, 2013 was 4.61 percent, increasing the Fund’s value to an estimated $160.4 billion, according to New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. DiNapoli: Tax Collections Slightly Above Projections Tax collections increased $2.7 billion, or 7.6 percent, to $38.6 billion through Oct. 31 compared to the same period last year, but total receipts were $133.6 million below the Division of the Budget’s most recent projections, according to the October cash reportreleased Friday by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

New York State Department of Labor regulations concerning unemployment insurance applications amended

New York State Department of Labor regulations concerning unemployment insurance applications amended

Source: Sharon Berlin, Esq., Chair, Employment Relations Committee, NYSBA Municipal Law Section

Ms. Berlin advises that the New York State Department of Labor has amended its regulations addressing processing unemployment applications, 12 NYCRR 472.12.

Section 472.12, among other things, sets out:

1. The deadline for an employer to respond to a DOL request for employee information (which now may be shorter than 10 calendar days);

2. The methods by which the DOL can communicate requests for information (which include letter, electronic communication, fax, the State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES), mail, private delivery service, phone or any other DOL approved method);

3. New criteria regarding the adequacy of the contents of an employer’s response; and

4. Sets out potential consequences of an untimely or inadequate response, which include that the employer’s account may be charged for an overpayment even for the first untimely response unless the employer provides good cause for the failure. The DOL is given the authority to relieve an employer of charges that are the result of a DOL error or a disaster emergency as declared by the Governor.

Ms. Berlin notes that the employer’s response will be deemed received by the DOL on the date indicated by the date stamp on an incoming document.

Ms. Berlin, a partner at Lamb and Barnosky, LLP, may be reached via e-mail at: snb@lambbarnosky.com
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Educator disciplined after making statements such as "hey, baby," "how you doing baby?," and "you good baby" to underage female student

Educator disciplined after making statements such as "hey, baby," "how you doing baby?," and "you good baby" to underage female student

2013 NY Slip Op 07811, Appellate Division, First Department

A disciplinary arbitrator found a male teacher [Teacher] guilty of violating the Chancellor of the New York Department of Education’s Regulation A-421 by making statements such as "hey, baby," "how you doing baby?," and "you good baby" on multiple occasions to his underage female student. The penalty imposed by the arbitrator: a fine in the amount of $1,500 to be withdrawn in equal installments from Teacher's paychecks over a twelve month period.

Although the New York City Department of Education has sought to have Teacher terminated from his position, the arbitrator declined terminating the employee and imposed the $1,500 fine instead.

Teacher file an Article 75 petition in Supreme Court seeking a court order vacating and annulling the arbitration award. Supreme Court dismissed Teacher’s petition.

The Appellate Division, affirming the dismissal of Teacher’s petition by the Supreme Court, ruled that the penalty imposed was “not so excessive and disproportionate to the offense as to be shocking to one's sense of fairness.”

The court also noted that the arbitrator had explicitly found [1] the student’ testimony credible and [2] the Teacher’s testimony to be not credible and [3] that determinations of a hearing officer involving the credibility of a witness are "largely unreviewable.”

The decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2013/2013_07811.htm
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