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Penalties imposed by appointing authorities after finding employees guilty of misconduct ?did not shock the judicial conscience?

Penalties imposed by appointing authorities after finding employees guilty of misconduct ?did not shock the judicial conscience?
Matter of Cianciulli v Village of Bronxville Bd. of Police Commissioners, 57 AD3d 661
Matter of Lewis v Lipsman, 57 AD3d 670

The Cianciulli case:

The Village of Bronxville Board of Police Commissioners found Luigi Cianciulli guilty of charges of misconduct -- punching a fellow officer in the face, breaking his nose -- and terminated his employment as a police officer.

Finding that the Commissioners? was supported by substantial evidence, the Appellate Division dismissed Cianciulli?s appeal challenging his termination.

As to the penalty imposed, dismissal, the court said ?an administrative penalty must be upheld unless it is so disproportionate to the offense as to be shocking to one's sense of fairness, thus constituting an abuse of discretion as a matter of law,? citing Pell v Board of Education, 34 NY2d 222.

In this instance, said the court, ?it cannot be concluded, as a matter of law, that the penalty of dismissal shocks the judicial conscience.?

The Lewis case:

Joshua Lipsman, Commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Health, adopted the finding and recommendation of a disciplinary hearing officer that resulted in Mary Lewis being found guilty of certain charges of misconduct and being suspended from employment without pay for a period of 45 days.

Finding that the determination that she engaged in misconduct is supported by substantial evidence in the record and the penalty imposed did not violate the so-called Pell doctrine [Matter of Pell, 34 NY2d 222], the Appellate Division dismissed Lewis? appeal.

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on March 12, 2010 (boomark / email).