Opinion
May 1, 1995
Adjudged that the determination is confirmed and the proceeding is dismissed, with costs.
The New York State Public Employment Relations Board (hereinafter PERB) properly found that the County of Nassau (hereinafter the County) had violated Civil Service Law § 209-a (1) (d) by unilaterally abolishing the long-standing practice of allowing employees of the Department of Public Works who are assigned County-owned motor vehicles in connection with their employment to use those vehicles to drive to and from work. PERB's determination that the practice was applicable to all employees of the Department of Public Works is clearly supported by substantial evidence (CPLR 7803; see, Matter of Uniondale Union Free School Dist. v Newman, 167 A.D.2d 475).
The doctrine of collateral estoppel was narrowly applied in this case only to bar relitigation of the same issue that was determined in a prior PERB proceeding in 1980. The County was not barred from litigating, and indeed fully litigated, the issue of the effect of the vehicle use and operating guide, the receipts, and the waiver forms that it began to use between 1985 and 1987. Miller, J.P., Pizzuto, Joy and Krausman. JJ., concur.