| Matter of Turner v Horn |
| 2010 NY Slip Op 00565 [69 AD3d 522] |
| January 26, 2010 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| In the Matter of Lakeisha Turner, Appellant, v Martin F.Horn, Correction Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, et al.,Respondents. |
—[*1] Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Janet L. Zaleon of counsel), forrespondents.
Order and judgment (one paper), Supreme Court, New York County (Emily Jane Goodman,J.), entered January 15, 2009, which denied the petition for a judgment annulling respondents'determination to terminate petitioner's probationary employment and dismissed the proceedingbrought pursuant to CPLR article 78, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
A probationary employee may be discharged without a hearing or a statement of reasons, inthe absence of a demonstration that her termination was made in bad faith, for a constitutionallyimpermissible purpose, or in violation of statutory or decisional law (see Matter of York vMcGuire, 63 NY2d 760, 761 [1984]; Matter of Cipolla v Kelly, 26 AD3d 171 [2006]). Respondentterminated petitioner's probationary employment following an investigation which concluded,based on substantial evidence in the record, that she had failed to comply with departmental rulesand regulations pertaining to "undue familiarity" with current or former inmates (see Matterof Medina v Sielaff, 182 AD2d 424, 427-428 [1992]). In this proceeding, petitionersubmitted evidence challenging the investigators' conclusion, but did not submit any evidenceraising a substantial issue as to respondents' bad faith in investigating the alleged violation or indeciding to terminate her employment, which would require a hearing (see Matter of Bradford v New York CityDept. of Correction, 56 AD3d 290 [2008], lv denied 12 NY3d 711[*2][2009]). Accordingly, there is no basis to interfere withrespondents' determination and no issue requiring a hearing. Concur—Tom, J.P., Saxe,Nardelli, Renwick and Freedman, JJ.