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Hearing officer recommends the termination of employee who fraternized with a prisoner

Hearing officer recommends the termination of employee who fraternized with a prisoner
Dep?t of Correction v. Jenkin, OATH Index No. 3070/09

Toni Jenkins, a New York City Department of Corrections correction officer, was charged and found guilty of accepting over 700 telephone calls from the father of her youngest child, an inmate.

Jenkins was also found guilty of depositing money in the inmate's commissary account on three occasions and having bailed him out of jail. OATH Administrative Law Judge Kara J. Miller recommended that Jenkins be termination from her position with the Department.

In Vega v Dept. of Correctional Services, 186 A.D.2d 340, the Appellate Division considered disciplinary action taken against a correction officer charged with fraternizing with an inmate, her husband.

The department's employees' manual contained a rule prohibiting employees from engaging in a "relationship with any inmate, former inmate, [or] parolee ... in any manner or form which is not necessary or proper for the discharge of the employee's duties." It also provided that any such conduct was to be reported to the department.

Vega, a corrections officer, was brought up on disciplinary charges alleging that she had engaged in "covert and unauthorized conduct in developing and maintaining an apparent close relationship with an inmate and parolee." The charges noted that Vega was married to the parolee.

Found guilty of the charges, Vega was dismissed from her position. She sued the department contending that her dismissal was arbitrary and capricious and in violation of Executive Law 291 and 296 which prohibits discrimination against an employee because of his or her marital status.

The Appellate Division affirmed a lower court's ruling dismissing Vega?s petition. It said that although the marriage between Vega and the parolee was noted in the disciplinary charges, the basis for her termination was her violation of the rule prohibiting department
employees from fraternizing with inmates, former inmates or parolees.

Accordingly, Vega's discipline and ultimate termination was not based on her marriage itself.

Laspisa v Mahoney, A.D.2d 279, is another case involving an individual dismissed from her position after being found guilty of fraternizing with a prison inmate and continuing her relationship with the inmate following his release in violation of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department procedures.

The Appellate Division, in Worden v Commissioner of Labor, 252 A.D.2d 711, sustained the denial of unemployment insurance benefits to Craig W. Warden following his termination from his position because he had violated the employer's policy prohibiting fraternization by employees with their subordinates. The Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board disqualified Warden from receiving benefits, ruling that he had lost his employment due to misconduct.

The Appellate Division could not actually resolve the matter because Worden's appeal was untimely. However, the court signaled the probable result when it stated that "were we to consider the merits [of the appeal], we would find substantial evidence in the record to support the [Unemployment Insurance Appeals] Board's decision."

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on February 08, 2010 (boomark / email).