New York Court of Appeals, 1981

MATTER OF LA SOTA v. Green

New York Court of Appeals · Decided March 24, 1981 · Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer Concur in Memorandum

53 N.Y.2d 631; 438 N.Y.S.2d 780; 420 N.E.2d 972; 1981 N.Y. LEXIS 2298

Cases that cite this one

5 later published cases cite this decision.

Dhawan v. Office of Suffolk County Medical Examiner (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)
Becker v. New York State Civil Service Commission (N.Y. 1984)
Lelio v. Rutkowski (New York Supreme Court 1984)
Haynes v. County of Chautauqua (N.Y. 1981)
Vaillancourt v. New York State Liquor Authority (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division, insofar as appealed from, should be reversed, with costs, and the matter remitted to Supreme Court, Westchester County, for further proceedings in accordance with this memorandum.

The issue is whether petitioner was “continued in” his position as assistant water chemist and bacteriologist so as to convert his provisional status to a permanent appointment pursuant to subdivision 4 of section 65 of the Civil Service Law. The Appellate Division read into the statute a requirement that such continuation last a substantial period of time. This interpretation, however, is at odds with the statute’s plain wording. Nothing in section 65 indicates that attainment of permanent status is dependent upon the length of time a provisional employee is “continued in” his or her position after becoming eligible for permanent appointment. Thus, petitioner, who was retained over a month beyond the nine-month statutory term of his provisional appointment, which ended on March 21,1979 (Civil Service Law, § 65, subd 2), attained permanent status when he was continued in his position subsequent to his name appearing on an eligible list on March 6, 1979.

It remains to be determined whether petitioner’s termination complied with the applicable rules dealing with probationary terms for permanent appointees. For this reason, the matter is remitted to Special Term.

*633 Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer concur in memorandum. Order, insofar as appealed from, reversed, etc.

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