Klein Overrules Law Judge: DOE Web-Surfer is Fired

Klein Overrules Law Judge

DOE Web-Surfer is Fired

By HOWARD MEGDAL

A Department of Education employee who surfed the Internet at work was terminated by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, who overruled an Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings judge's recommendation that he be given only a reprimand.

TOUGH OR OVER THE TOP?: Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein's decision to disregard an Administrative Law Judge's recommendation of a reprimand and fire a 14-year employee for surfing the Web was called 'viciously shocking' by the worker's attorney. In his May 5 decision terminating 14-year DOE employee Toquir Choudhri, Mr. Klein said, "It is apparent from the record that [Mr. Choudhri] has no real interest in working for the Department of Education." The Chancellor said that the employee's behavior exhibited "a deliberate indifference" and "an active avoidance of his job's responsibilities."

'Political Hatchet Job'

Mr. Choudhri's lawyer, Martin Druyan, called the decision "viciously shocking."

"It's unfair in every sense of the word," Mr. Druyan said in a phone interview shortly after the decision was released. "This is a political hatchet job."

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: This isn't Surf City. OATH Judge John B. Spooner ruled last month that Mr. Choudhri, who had been an Analyst in DOE's Human Resources Division, was not guilty of excessive tardiness and absences or of taking an unauthorized leave.

He was found guilty of insubordination over the Internet issue. When his supervisor, Gary Barton, questioned him about his use of the Internet in a memo, he responded with a one word e-mail: "Reading." When Mr. Barton sent a followup on the matter, Mr. Choudhri responded that he used the Internet to "check the weather."

OATH: 'Impertinent'

"Under these circumstances, it was impertinent for [Mr. Choudhri] to reply only that he had been 'reading,''' Judge Spooner said in his decision. "This reply failed to answer the question as to why respondent had been accessing the Web for nonwork related reasons and was intended to be sarcastic."

However, Judge Spooner recommended dismissal of the DOE claims of excessive absences, latenesses and unauthorized leave, none of which violated any established DOE regulations, saying the charges were "lacking support in either reason or logic."

He also suggested that Mr. Choudhri was only taken to task for using the Internet out of "anger rather than a concern for office productivity." Mayor Bloomberg telegraphed the Chancellor's decision during a May 4 press conference, noting that Mr. Choudhri had visited "about 300 Web sites over two days."

"Nobody should think that is appropriate behavior," the Mayor said, adding that OATH rulings are "merely advisory."

Mr. Choudhri's lawyer responded that "you can visit 300 Web sites in about 300 seconds."

"There was no work that was undone," he added. "The embarrassment is with DOE with an overstaffed office."

The reprimand recommended by Judge Spooner was the mildest penalty available under Civil Service Law.