Appellate Division reinstates Plaintiff's retaliation claims and granted motion seeking leave to amend Plaintiff's complaint

Plaintiff' filed claims alleging retaliation by the Employer in violation of the New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws. 

Supreme Court granted the Employer's motion to dismiss the Plaintiff's unlawful discrimination complaint and denied Plaintiff's motion seeking leave to amend the complaint to supplement Plaintiff's Human Rights Laws retaliation allegations. 

Plaintiff appealed and the Appellate Division unanimously reinstated Plaintiff's retaliation claims and granted Plaintiff's motion seeking leave to amend Plaintiff's complaint to supplement Plaintiff's Human Rights Laws retaliation allegations.

The Appellate Division, however, held that:

1. Supreme Court properly dismissed [Plaintiff's] Civil Service Law §75-b whistleblower claim because the Plaintiff's "adverse personnel actions" claims of retaliatory action by the Employer were subject to "final and binding" arbitration under the terms of his collective bargaining agreement; 

2. Plaintiff's assertion of other retaliation claims under the Labor Law's election-of-remedies provision relied on statutory text that was deleted from the Labor Law by Chapter 684, §1 of the Laws of 2019; and

3. Supreme Court properly dismissed other discrimination claims advanced by Plaintiff because the complaints failed to allege facts giving rise to an inference of unequal treatment.

As to Plaintiff's retaliation claim, the Appellate Division noted that Plaintiff alleged that several days after he objected to a comment about his national origin made by a Deputy Inspector [DI], the DI sought "to replace an existing positive performance evaluation of [Plaintiff] with a negative one", and that after [Plaintiff] filed a formal complaint later that month with the bureau's executive officer about the DI's conduct, Plaintiff was ordered to report to psychological services for a mandatory evaluation, which resulted in the confiscation of his gun and shield. 

The Appellate Division observed that such allegations are sufficient to assert "general knowledge by [Plaintiff's Employer] of his protected activity" as well as specific knowledge by, at a minimum, the DI and the passage of only days between Plaintiff's opposition to the DI's comment and the DI's alleged negative evaluation campaign "easily falls within the acceptable temporal range to establish a causal connection". Moreover, said the Appellate Division, the DI's "explicit reference to the bureau's executive officer 'jam[ming] [Plaintiff] up,' if proven, would constitute direct evidence of a retaliatory motive".

In the words of the Appellate Division:

a. "The alleged retaliatory actions outlined [in its decision] were "reasonably likely to deter a person from engaging in protected activity" under the City Human Rights Law (Administrative Code of City of NY), §8-107(7). At a minimum, the denial of overtime and charges and specifications were adverse actions under the State Human Rights Law", citing Pastor v August Aichhorn Ctr. for Adolescent Residential Care, Inc., 238 AD3d 645, leave to appeal denied 45 NY3d 903" and 

b. "To the extent the proposed amended pleading adds allegations that [Plaintiff's] placement on probation deprived him of opportunities and that he was denied a post at the Office of Management Analysis and Planning as part of the pattern of retaliation against him under the Human Rights Laws, the proposed pleading should be considered the operative complaint in the case".

Click HERE to access the Appellate Division's decision posted on the Internet.

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New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli releases audit reports for the New York State local governments and school districts listed below

On June 2, 2026, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following local government and school audits were issued and have been posted on the Internet.

Click the text highlighted in COLOR to access the audit.

Village of Unadilla – Disbursements (Otsego County) Village officials did not ensure that disbursements were accurate, properly approved, supported and for appropriate village purposes. Auditors identified one or more deficiencies within 249 disbursements or 76% of the disbursements totaling $70,600 reviewed.

Gorham Fire District – Procurement (Ontario County) District officials did not always use a competitive process to procure goods and services in an economical manner or in accordance with statutory requirements set forth in state law and the district’s procurement policy adopted on June 9, 2025. Of the 77 purchases totaling $446,884 auditors reviewed, district officials did not use competitive methods for 68 purchases totaling $403,377.

Town of Whitestown – Inventories (Oneida County) The superintendent did not properly safeguard and account for diesel fuel, gasoline and motor oil inventories. As a result, fuel and motor oil purchases totaling $172,588 or 85% of the total purchases made from Jan. 1, 2024 through Oct. 31, 2025, could not be accounted for because usage records were either not maintained or were incomplete and unreliable.

Town of Paris – Water and Sewer User Charges (Oneida County) Town officials did not properly manage billing, collection and enforcement activities associated with water and sewer user charges and the town board did not authorize the water rates. The board also did not provide adequate oversight and guidance to the town’s water and sewer clerk, increasing the risk of errors or irregularities that could occur without detection.

Town of Denmark – Claims Auditing (Lewis County) The board did not properly audit and approve all claims before payment. While the board approved a list of claims for payment each month, it did not conduct a thorough audit of individual claims to determine whether they contained adequate supporting documentation, represented actual and necessary expenditures and were for valid town purposes.

Uniondale Union Free School District – Audit Follow-Up (Nassau County) The purpose of the review was to assess the Uniondale Union Free School District’s progress in implementing our recommendations in a prior audit Uniondale Union Free School District – Information Technology (2023M-61), released in October 2023. The audit determined that district officials did not adequately manage nonstudent network user accounts and permissions. Of the five audit recommendations, the district’s director of technology and library media services, technology supervisor, and officials partially implemented three recommendations and did not implement two recommendations. Auditors also reviewed progress in implementing the recommendations related to the sensitive IT control weaknesses that were reported to officials confidentially and communicated those results confidentially to district officials.

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