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Conviction of a crime and employment pursuant a ?Certificate of Relief from Disabilities? or a ?Certificate of Good Conduct?

Conviction of a crime and employment pursuant a ?Certificate of Relief from Disabilities? or a ?Certificate of Good Conduct?
Camulaire v Board of Education, NYS Supreme Court, [Not officially reported]

In May 1996 Arnold Camulaire applied to the New York City Board of Education for a teaching license and listed a criminal conviction on his application form. Camulaire had been convicted of Attempted Possession of a Weapon, a Class E felony, in 1990 and was sentenced to five years of probation.

On the recommendation of the Office of Personnel, the board declined to approve Camulaire?s application on the grounds that ?the conviction was recent and serious in nature.? The board decided that approving the application ?would pose a threat to the safety and welfare of the student population and Board of Education?s employees.?

Advised that he could reapply in one year, Camulaire filed a second application in September 1997 to which were attached recommendations from his employer, a YMCA, a member of the clergy and school administrators. Also submitted was Camulaire?s ?Certificate of Relief from Disabilities.?

A convicted felon may be granted a Certificate of Relief from Disabilities, which signifies rehabilitation, by a court or the Board of Parole [Section 701, Correction Law] or a Certificate of Good Conduct from the Board of Parole [Section 703-a, Correction Law]. There is no statutory bar to the employment of an individual who has been convicted of a crime in the public service, in contrast to the statutory prohibition with respect to holding public office. This reflects the general principle that although all public officers are public employees, not all public employees hold public office.

Camulaire?s application was rejected again by the Board of Education and he filed a lawsuit. A state Supreme Court justice observed that New York State?s public policy prohibits discrimination against persons who have committed a crime who have been rehabilitated. Also, the court found that the school board presented no evidence of uncontrollable or violent behavior on the part of Camulaire to rebut the presumption of his rehabilitation or that issuing a license ?would involve an unreasonable risk to the school population.?

The court further noted that Camulaire had obtained associate and bachelor?s degrees following his conviction and was on the Dean?s List five times while attending college. Finding that ?eight years under these circumstances? is not recent, Justice Clemente decided that the board?s action was arbitrary and capricious. The matter was remanded to the board with instructions that it issue Camulaire a high school teaching license on the grounds that the crime he committed was not recent and that there is a presumption of rehabilitation. The court also said that the board could require Camulaire to undergo a psychological evaluation by a physician of its own choice, should it wish to do so as a condition to issuing the license.

Another case involving a person who had been granted a Certificate of Relief from Disabilities was Decisions of the Commissioner of Education 12715. That case involved a resident of a school district who asked the Commissioner of Education remove a member of a school board who had been convicted of a crime. The school board member had been given a Certificate of Relief from Disabilities.

The Commissioner noted that the Certificate of Relief from Civil Disabilities ?cannot be construed to apply to the right of such persons to retain or be eligible for public office.? However, that provision applies only where a law specifically precludes convicted felons from holding a particular office or position. The Commissioner concluded that as there is no law specifically prohibiting a convicted felon from serving on a community school board, the exception to the Certificate of Relief was inapplicable.

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on September 14, 2009 (boomark / email).