Source: https://publicpersonnellaw.blogspot.com/2016/03/removing-volunteer-firefighter-from-his.html
Timestamp: 2017-03-30 06:37:02
Document Index: 232944070

Matched Legal Cases: ['§209', '§36', '§209', '§36', '§209', '§209', '§36']

New York Public Personnel Law: Removing a volunteer firefighter from his or her position
Type in a key word or two concerning the subject or issue in which you are interested in the box at the upper left and tap enter to access any relevant material posted. Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Removing a volunteer firefighter from his or her
v New Hyde Park Fire Dept., 2016 NY Slip Op 01844, Appellate Division, Second Department
Michael Dolan, Sr., an
elected member of the New Hyde Park Board of Fire Commissioners [Board], also
served as a member of the New Hyde Park Fire Department [Department]. The Board filed disciplinary charges against Dolan pursuant
to General Municipal Law §209-L* alleging
that he had violated certain Rules and Regulations of the New Hyde Park Fire
District. After a disciplinary hearing conducted by a hearing officer, the
Board adopted the findings and recommendation of the hearing officer and
dismissed Dolan from his position as a volunteer firefighter with the Department.
Dolan filed a petition pursuant to CPLR Article 78
against the Department and the Board seeking a court order [1] annulling the
determination of the Board and [2] compelling the Board and the Department to
reinstate him to his former position.
Dolan contended that the actions for which he was
removed from his position as a firefighter were actions taken in his capacity
as an elected Commissioner on the Board rather than as a member of the Department
and, therefore, the only permissible remedy was to initiate proceedings to
remove him as a Commissioner pursuant to Public Officers Law §36** rather than by taking disciplinary action pursuant
to General Municipal Law §209-L.
Supreme Court granted Dolan’s petition; the Board,
and the Department appealed. The Appellate Division reversed the lower court’s
ruling, explaining that “the fact that Dolan could also have been removed from
his position as Commissioner pursuant to Public Officers Law §36 did not
abrogate the Board's right to remove him as a member of the fire department”
pursuant to General Municipal Law §209-L."
As to the merits of the disciplinary action taken
against Dolan, the court said that “the fire district sufficiently established
that Dolan violated a provision of the Rules and Regulations of the New Hyde
Park Fire District that "[a]ll members shall conduct themselves at all
times in such a manner so as not to bring disgrace or adverse criticism or ill
feeling against the Company, Department, or District . . . Violation of this
rule will be grounds for dismissal." This provision, said the court, applied
to Dolan as a firefighter. In addition, the Appellate Division ruled that “The
evidence was also sufficient to establish that Dolan violated the provision of
the Supplemental Rules of Conduct and Procedure …. [that] [i]t shall be the
duty of all members and officers to refrain from taking district, department
and company property without proper authorization."
As to Supreme Court’s opining that the Board's
determination regarding Dolan’s dismissal should have been annulled on the
basis that the three Commissioners who rendered it should have each recused
themselves, the Appellate Division said that “there was no evidence that those
three Commissioners had such personal involvement as would mandate recusal.”
However, said the court, the Supreme Court did not
reach the issue concerning the “excessiveness of the punishment” imposed on Dolan.
Accordingly the Appellate Division, citing Featherstone v Franco, 95 NY2d 550, remitted the matter
to the Supreme Court for consideration of whether the penalty of dismissal “was
so disproportionate to the offense, in light of all the circumstances, as to be
shocking to one's sense of fairness”.
* §209-L provides that “The
authorities having control of fire departments of cities, towns, villages and fire
districts may make regulations governing the removal of volunteer officers and volunteer
members of such departments and the companies thereof.”
** §36 of the Public Officer
Law provides for the removal of a town, village, improvement district or fire
district officer by a court.
_______________________ A Reasonable Penalty Under The Circumstances - a 618-page volume focusing on New York State
court and administrative decisions addressing an appropriate disciplinary penalty to be imposed on an employee in the public service found guilty of misconduct or incompetence. For more information click on http://booklocker.com/7401.html _______________________ Posted by Harvey Randall, Esq.