Latera Griffin Hudson County, CSC Docket No. 2019-1831
NJ Civil Service Commission decision of September 22, 2021, CSC Docket No. 2019-1831: discipline, penalty upheld. Latera Griffin, County Correctional Police Officer, Hudson County, Department of Corrections, removal effective September 12, 2018, conduct unbecoming a public employee, neglect of duty
Commission decisions · Meeting of September 22, 2021
Latera Griffin, County Correctional Police Officer, Hudson County, Department of Corrections, removal effective September 12, 2018, conduct unbecoming a public employee, neglect of duty and other sufficient cause.
- Matter
- Discipline
- Decided
- September 22, 2021, item A-2
- Outcome
- Penalty upheld
- ALJ's recommendation
- Uphold the removal.
- What the Commission did with it
- Adopted the ALJ's recommendation
- Penalty appealed
- removal
- Title
- COUNTY CORRECTIONAL POLICE OFFICER
- Employer
- Hudson County
- Chair at the time
- Deirdre L. Webster Cobb, Chairperson
- Official decision
- Published by CSC in its monthly archive bundle (A-002 9-22-21.pdf)
Action recorded in the minutes: The Civil Service Commission affirmed the recommendation of the Administrative Law Judge.
The decision
CSC published this decision as a scanned image. The text below was recognized by OCR, read twice and checked against the meeting minutes, but OCR can misread a word. The official document is the record.
BackgroundThe appeal of Latera Griffin, County Correctional Police Officer, Hudson County, Department of Corrections, removal effective September 12, 2018, on charges, was heard by Administrative Law Judge Danielle Pasquale (ALJ), who rendered her initial decision on July 29, 2021. Exceptions were filed on behalf of the appellant and a reply to exceptions was filed on behalf of the appointing authority.
AnalysisHaving considered the record and the ALJ's initial decision, and having made an independent evaluation of the record, including a thorough review of the submissions of the parties, the Civil Service Commission (Commission), at its meeting of September 22, 2021, accepted and adopted the Findings of Fact and Conclusion as contained in the attached ALJ’s initial decision. In this regard, the Commission notes that most of the issues presented in the appellant's exceptions are thoroughly and appropriately addressed by the ALJ in the initial decision and the Commission does not have any further comments other than the following. In the appellant’s previous request for interlocutory review, the Commission declined to take review as it did not find any of the arguments presented persuasive. As such, the Commission finds no further comment is necessary regarding the appellant’s renewed arguments pertaining to the issues presented in the interlocutory review request. Further, the Commission rejects the argument that the ALJ should have been recused as the speculative and tangential claims of bias are wholly unsupported. Regardless, the Commission has independently reviewed the entire record and finds that the ALJ’s determinations were through and comprehensive and are not based on anything other than her appropriate assessment of the credible evidence in the record. Accordingly, the Commission adopts those determinations.
ORDER
The Civil Service Commission finds that the action of the appointing authority in removing the appellant was justified. The Commission therefore affirms that action and dismisses the appeal of Latera Griffin.
ClosingThis is the final administrative determination in this matter. Any further review should be pursued in a judicial forum.
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