Opinion
January 13, 2000
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Charles Ramos, J.), entered January 27, 1999, which denied petitioner's application to annul respondent Commissioner of Department of Correctional Services' determination demoting petitioner from her position of Superintendent to Senior Counselor, and dismissed the petition, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Philip E. Taubman for Petitioner-Appellant.
Marion R. Buchbinder for Respondents-Respondents.
SULLIVAN, J.P., WILLIAMS, RUBIN, BUCKLEY, FRIEDMAN, JJ.
An employee at will, such as petitioner, may be discharged (or, as here, demoted) without a hearing or a statement of reasons for the discharge, and that judicial review is limited to whether the discharge was in violation of constitutional, statutory or decisional law, or made in bad faith (see, Matter of Diaz v. Goldman, 225 A.D.2d 344, 345-346). Evidence in the record supporting the conclusion that petitioner used her facility's equipment for improper political purposes establishes that the demotion was made in good faith. The conflicting evidence as to the exact instructions that petitioner gave her assistant, and the fact that respondent Commissioner was to be an honored guest at the political dinner petitioner improperly promoted, do not raise issues of fact as to bad faith warranting a hearing (see, Matter of Johnson v. Katz, 68 N.Y.2d 649; Matter of Medina v. Sieloff, 182 A.D.2d 424, 427-428). Since an at-will employee can be discharged for any or no reason, we decline to review the severity of the penalty.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.