Judge nixes jail guards’ suit

A MANHATTAN judge ruled Thursday that disciplinary cases of city correction officers can still be posted online by the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings — a sharp contrast to current police practice.

The union representing city correction officers brought the lawsuit and tried to force the independent tribunal to erase all the disciplinary cases it has made public since 1992. The union argued that information should remain private as required under state civil rights Section 50-a.

But that legal argument — similar to a case made by NYPD lawyers to block access to police disciplinary records — was dismissed by state Supreme Court Justice Shlomo Hagler.

The union’s demand “is an unfettered, unlimited request to expunge over 35 years of OATH jurisprudence,” Hagler ruled.

The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings is an independent city agency that does not come under the state law requiring disciplinary records be kept private, Hagler concluded.

The NYPD has used the controversial state law, in place since 1976, to block public access to police disciplinary records. The NYCLU is suing the department, arguing the public has the right to that information.

A Manhattan appeals court has ruled in favor of the NYPD. The NYCLU’s appeal to the state’s highest court is pending.