School District's motion to dismiss the causes of action alleging a student was sexually molested by an employee of the school district denied

In this action to recover damages, the complainant [Plaintiff] alleged that he was sexually molested by his guidance counselor, who was an employee or special employee of the defendant [School District].  Supreme Court denied School District's motion to dismiss the causes of action alleging "negligence, gross negligence, negligent hiring, retention, supervision, and direction, and breach of fiduciary duty insofar as asserted." 

The School District appealed the Supreme Court's ruling.

Explaining that on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action under CPLR §3211(a)(7) the Appellate Division said that a court must "accept the facts as alleged in the complaint as true, accord plaintiffs the benefit of every possible favorable inference, and determine only whether the facts as alleged fit within any cognizable legal theory" and denied School District's appeal.*

The amended complaint alleged, among other things, that the School District had prior notice of the guidance counselor's propensity to sexually molest students and that the School District "nevertheless permitted the guidance counselor to meet one-on-one with students, including the Plaintiff, and that the School District thereby negligently failed to prevent the guidance counselor from sexually molesting the Plaintiff."

Further, said the Appellate Division, Supreme Court properly found that the Plaintiff sufficiently pleaded causes of action alleging negligence, gross negligence, and negligent hiring, retention, supervision, and direction, citing Moskowitz v Masliansky, 198 AD3d 637 and other decisions.

* The Appellate Division noted "[c]auses of action alleging negligent hiring, negligent retention, or negligent supervision are not statutorily required to be pleaded with specificity".

Click HEREto access the Appellate Division's decision.

Government Technology Webinars scheduled to be held during the week ending September 3, 2022

Wednesday, August 31 | 1:00pm Eastern

Enhancing Voice and Digital Engagement with Communications Platform as a Service Solutions 

The ability to reach and respond to constituents and students where they are, on whatever device they’re using, in real time is a differentiating factor that elevates the engagement experience for state and local government and education. Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) solutions help agencies build upon their existing applications to create access to all the popular communication methods the public wants to use. Join us for a 30-minute webinar on how organizations can use CPaaS solutions to integrate new communications tools into their workflow quickly and easily.

Click here to Register to attend 

 

Wednesday, August 31 | 2:00pm Eastern

Heightened Visibility is Key to Efficient Threat Detection and Risk Mitigation 

Local and state governments must constantly reevaluate their security strategies to ensure they’re up to the task of combatting today’s evolving threat landscape. Recent survey results demonstrate what agencies are most concerned about and what they are doing to mitigate risks. To unpack the results of the latest research, register to reserve your spot!

Click here to Register to attend 

 

To view upcoming and on-demand webinars, visit webinars.govtech.com.

For assistance with registration, contact Jeremy Smith, jsmith@erepublic.com (916) 932-1402 direct.

Application to remove an individual serving as "trustee and president" of the school board

An applicant sought to have the Commissioner of Education remove the President of the school board for a number of reasons including "consistently arguing with parents at almost every [board] meeting” and for "abstaining from a school board vote."

Commissioner Rosa dismissed the appeal for two procedural reasons. 

First Dr. Rosa ruled that the application must be dismissed for improper service.

§275.8(a) of the Commissioner’s regulations requires that the petition be personally served upon each named respondent. In this instance the Commissioner found that the record indicates that Petitioner failed to properly serve the petition upon the President, who is the sole respondent in the application but left the petition with a “receptionist” at the school board’s district office whom the Petitioner knew to be “responsible for receiving district mail.” §275.8(a), however, of the Commissioner’s regulations applicable to removal proceedings pursuant to Commissioner’s regulation §277.1, requires that the petition be personally served upon each named respondent. 

The President contended that she was never personally served with a copy of the petition and Petitioner did not challenge this contention.  Accordingly the Commissioner ruled that the petition "must be dismissed for improper service," citing Decision of the Commissioner of Education No. 17,391. 

In addition Dr. Rosa held that the application must be dismissed for lack of the specialized notice required by §277.1 (b) of the Commissioner’s regulations. This regulation, said the Commissioner, sets out "the specific notice required for removal applications pursuant to Education Law §306, which is distinct from the notice required under §275.11(a) for appeals pursuant to Education Law §310."

The Commissioner explained that the notice of petition "secures jurisdiction over the intended respondent and alerts the respondent that he or she must appear in the removal proceeding and answer the allegations contained in the application." Accordingly, the Commissioner held that such situations "a removal application that does not include the specific notice required by 8 NYCRR 277.1(b) is fatally defective and must be denied."

Click HEREto access the text of the Commissioner's decision.

Tax Information for Federal, State and Local Governments

Internal Revenue Service [IRS] increases mileage rate for remainder of 2022 

The IRS announced an increase in the optional standard mileage rate for the final 6 months of 2022 in recognition of recent gasoline price increases. Taxpayers may use the optional standard mileage rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business and certain other purposes, effective July 1, 2022. 

 

2023 inflation adjusted amounts for Health Savings Accounts 

Revenue Procedure 2022-24 provides the 2023 inflation adjusted amounts for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as determined under Section 223 of the Internal Revenue Code and the maximum amount that may be made newly available for excepted benefit health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) provided under Section 54.9831-1(c)(3)(viii) of the Pension Excise Tax Regulations.

For calendar year 2023, the annual limitation on deductions for:

Individual with self-only coverage under a high deductible health plan is $3,850;

Individual with family coverage under a high deductible health plan is $7,750.

 

Election workers: Reporting and withholding

Each election year, thousands of state and local government entities hire workers to conduct primary and general elections. To understand the correct tax treatment of these workers, employers need to be aware of specific statutes that apply to them as well as whether they are covered by a Section 218 Agreement.

Who are election workers? Election workers are individuals hired by government entities to perform services at polling places in connection with national, state and local elections. An election worker may be referred to by other terms and titles, for example, poll worker, moderator, machine tender, checker, ballot clerk, voting official, polling place manager, absentee ballot counter or deputy head moderator. These workers may be employed by the government entity exclusively for election work or may work in other capacities as well.

Compensation paid to election workers is includible as wage income for income tax purposes and may be treated as wages for Social Security and Medicare (FICA) tax purposes.

Election workers may be compensated by a set fee per day or a stipend for the election period. The election period may include attending training or meetings prior to and after the election. Election workers may also be reimbursed for their mileage or other expenses. To be excludable from wages, expense reimbursements must be made under an accountable plan.

For more Information see Election Workers: Reporting and Withholding.

 

 

 

Audits and reports issued by the New York State Comptroller during the week ending August 19, 2022

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the audits listed below for School Districts and Municipalities issued during the week ending August 19, 2022

Click on the text highlighted in color to access the complete audit report.

School District

Indian River Central School District – Financial Condition Management (2022M-92) The Board and District officials did not adequately manage the District’s financial condition and the current findings and recommendations are similar to our November 2016 Financial Condition audit report. While the Board and officials made some progress in implementing the prior audit recommendations, they must continue to improve their management of financial condition, otherwise more taxes will be levied than are needed to fund operations.

Click here to read complete report - pdf

 

Minisink Valley Central School District did not maximized Medicaid reimbursements -- The District did not maximize Medicaid reimbursements by claiming for all eligible Medicaid services provided.

• Claims were not submitted for reimbursement for at least 3,083 eligible services totaling $187,932. Had these services been claimed, the District would have realized revenues totaling $93,966 (50 percent of the Medicaid reimbursements).
  
• Between July 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021, the District paid a third-party vendor (vendor) $54,996 to process the District’s Medicaid claims. However, officials did not provide the vendor with all of the documentation needed for the vendor to properly file all Medicaid claims and did not adequately oversee the vendor to ensure Medicaid reimbursements were maximized.

Click here to read complete report - pdf

Wynantskill Union Free School District – Purchasing (2022M-85)

District officials could not always support competition was sought when purchasing goods and services that fell below the statutory bidding thresholds. Officials did not:

• Develop clear guidance in procedures to seek competition for purchasing goods and services that were not required to be competitively bid.
• Follow the District’s purchasing policy for 25 purchases (83 percent) totaling $53,883.
• Adequately document they sought competition for 17 purchases totaling $27,231. Further, contract award and pricing information was lacking on seven purchases made through State contract vendors, and the District should have paid $1,028 less for three purchases.

Click here to read complete report - pdf

 

Municipalities

Town of Hempstead – Information Technology Access Controls (2021M-158)

Town officials did not establish adequate access controls to help safeguard IT systems against unauthorized access.

The Board and Town officials did not:

• Develop and adopt comprehensive IT policies and procedures addressing key IT security issues, such as breach notification, and those related to acceptable computer use, protection of PPSI, application and network controls, password security, and user access controls.
• Provide IT security awareness training to all IT users, so they understand IT security measures and their roles in safeguarding data and IT assets.

In addition, sensitive IT control weaknesses were communicated confidentially to officials.

Click here to read complete report - pdf