Case Name: In the Matter of Issac Kinlock, Respondent, v. John J. Doherty, as Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation of the City of New York, Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1998-12-10
Citations: 256 A.D.2d 93
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the Matter of Issac Kinlock, Respondent, v John J. Doherty, as Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation of the City of New York, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 256
Pages: 93–94

Head Matter:
In the Matter of Issac Kinlock, Respondent, v John J. Doherty, as Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation of the City of New York, Appellant.
[681 NYS2d 264]

Opinion:
—Amended order and judgment (one paper), Supreme Court, New York County (Louis York, J.), entered December 17, 1996, which, inter alia, granted petitioner's application pursuant to CPLR article 78 to the extent of vacating respondent's determination terminating petitioner's employment as a sanitation worker, restoring petitioner to service forthwith and retroactively, and remanding the matter to respondent for implementation of the monetary sanction recommended by the Administrative Law Judge, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
In light of the numerous instances cited by the Administrative Law Judge in which respondent imposed penalties less severe than termination for violations of its sick leave policy similar to that for which petitioner was disciplined, Supreme Court properly concluded that respondent's determination to terminate petitioner for such violations was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and shocking to the conscience of the court. We also find that the penalty was entirely disproportionate to the offense (see, Matter of Pell v Board of Educ., 34 NY2d 222). Concur — Lerner, P. J., Ellerin, Andrias and Saxe, JJ.