OATH Recent Decisions

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Personnel

ALJ Astrid B. Gloade recommended termination of employment for a hospital coordinating manager who falsified time records, failed to remove expired supplies from storage areas under his supervision, and directed profanity and demeaning language towards his supervisees. The ALJ found that on 32 occasions respondent entered arrival and departure times into his timesheet that were inconsistent with times he was observed arriving and departing on surveillance video. Further, the ALJ found that respondent engaged in misconduct when he failed to remove expired medical supplies from storage areas under his supervision, including the hospital’s patient care units, emergency department, and warehouse. The ALJ found that respondent directed profanity and insulting names towards subordinates based on witness testimony that respondent cursed and yelled in the workplace and respondent’s admission that he used inappropriate language. However, petitioner did not prove that respondent’s failure to remove expired items before he was notified that they were in the hospital’s storage areas amounted to incompetence because there was no evidence that respondent had notice that his performance was inadequate. Nor did petitioner prove that respondent approved a supervisee’s timesheets knowing they were false, treated some employees more favorably than others, and failed to respond to an investigator from the hospital’s equal employment opportunity office. The ALJ concluded that termination is an appropriate penalty because respondent’s behavior demonstrated a fundamental lack of integrity, especially considering he had been previously sanctioned for similar behavior. Health & Hospitals Corp. (Jacobi Medical Ctr.) v. Paciullo, OATH Index No. 1963/24 (July 24, 2025).

Licensing

ALJ Jonathan Fogel, in a case of first impression, dismissed a petition brought by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (“MOME”) seeking to revoke a press credential it had previously issued. Petitioner alleged respondent was not acting in a newsgathering capacity and misused or misrepresented his credential when he wore it to his own court proceedings and protests. The ALJ found that petitioner failed to prove both charges by clear and convincing evidence. Regarding the court proceedings, the ALJ held that petitioner’s video evidence of respondent wearing his credential outside the courthouse, discussing his case, and stating that he wore his badge with “no issues,” was insufficient to establish that respondent actually wore the credential inside the proceedings or to influence the judge. Respondent plausibly asserted that he was newsgathering when he wore the credential outside the courthouse because he was reporting on his own court case. Respondent produced proof that petitioner had approved his newsgathering methods in connection with his application. For the protests, the ALJ found that video evidence supported respondent’s assertion that he was newsgathering because he appeared to be broadcasting his commentary during the protests and answering questions from an online audience. Rejecting petitioner’s argument that respondent wasn’t newsgathering because he wasn’t “neutral,” the ALJ found that it is possible for someone to both attend a protest and engage in newsgathering. Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment v. Brik, OATH Index No. 1679/24 (July 30, 2025).

ALJ Jonathan Fogel recommended dismissing a positive drug test charge against a TLC licensee after the licensee successfully raised the affirmative defense of innocent ingestion. TLC alleged that the licensee was unfit to retain a TLC driver’s license after he tested positive for the presence of cocaine. The licensee attributed the positive test to coca tea he drank the evening before his drug test to cure a stomachache. The ALJ credited the licensee’s testimony regarding his consumption of the tea, and further credited his corroborating evidence, including photographs of the coca tea packaging and medical journal excerpts explaining how coca tea is consumed in many South American countries and contains significant amount of cocaine and cocaine-related alkaloids. The ALJ found that the licensee met his burden of proof and TLC failed to counter the licensee’s evidence that he reasonably believed the product was lawful and that it caused him to test positive for the presence of cocaine. As a result, the ALJ found that the licensee was fit to possess a TLC driver’s license and recommended dismissing the charge. Taxi & Limousine Comm’n v. Farfan, OATH Index No. 2287/25 (July 21, 2025).

Contracts

The Contract Dispute Resolution Board, chaired by ALJ Faye Lewis, denied a contractor’s request for additional compensation under a contract with the Department of Design and Construction (“DDC”) for the reconstruction of a storm sewer. The contractor sought additional compensation for overrun contract materials that DDC argued were already included in a lump sum bid item but that the contractor asserted should be billed as separate line items. The Board found that the contractor waived its claim by failing to reserve the claim in time extension requests submitted after the contractor filed its Notice of Dispute with DDC. The contractor argued that the claim did not arise, and therefore could not be waived, until the Comptroller assigned the dispute a claim number upon receipt of the contractor’s Notice of Claim, which was submitted after the filing of the extension requests. The Board disagreed, holding that the contract required the contractor to reserve all potential claims of which it has notice and that the submission of the Notice of Dispute demonstrated such notice. Accordingly, the Board did not reach the merits of the dispute and denied the petition. D’Onofrio General Contractors Corp. v. Dep’t of Design & Construction, OATH Index No. 174/25, mem. Dec. (July 17, 2025).