Jail big canned

Used staff to baby-sit, run errands

A deputy correction commissioner was fired for using department employees to run personal errands — from baby-sitting to dropping her kids at school, sources told The Post.

The ouster Friday of Nichole Adams-Flores comes just 10 months after the departure of Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte for using city vehicles for weekend trips, mostly to his home state of Maine.

Adams-Flores, 44, was deputy commissioner of health affairs until she lost her $169,000-a-year job for having subordinates babysit and drop her three kids off at school, sources said.

The city’s Department of Investigation conducted a probe of allega- tions it received and “substantiated that there was a misuse of city resources,” according to an agency spokeswoman.

Adams-Flores denied the claims, but acknowledged that she hired her former baby sitter as her executive assistant.

She said she brought the sitter aboard only after the aide obtained a master’s degree, and after receiving permission from the DOC’s human-resources office.

Adams-Flores also admitted to paying the sitter-turned-assistant overtime for doing the work of two people, but again, she in- sisted, with the approval of HR.

“I’ve done nothing but follow the rules,” AdamsFlores told The Post.

The single mom, who was hired in 2016, believes her ouster is retaliation for a pending $5 million racial-discrimination case against the city in Manhattan federal court.

Adams-Flores, who is black, sued in December, claiming white male colleagues dominate the agency’s leadership posts.

She has also claimed in court papers that department chief of staff Brenda Cooke ordered her to tweak statistics to please Mayor de Blasio and she refused.

“It’s our belief that this is retaliation,” for the federal suit and other complaints, said AdamsFlores’ attorney, Rocco Avallone.

A Correction Department spokesman denied that claim.

The spokesman confirmed that Adams-Flores’ last day with the department was March 15, but declined to say why she was terminated.

More than a dozen officials in the jail system have been fined for using their official vehicles on personal errands, including the current commissioner, Cynthia Brann.

She reimbursed the city $493.67 for mileage and forfeited eight days of personal-leave time valued at $5,824.

Ponte, who retired two months after DOI issued a report on his misuse of government vehicles, paid an $18,500 fine, plus almost $1,800 in reimbursement for gas and E-ZPass charges.

[The DOI] substantiated that there was a misuse of city resources. Department of Investigation spokeswoman, on Nichole Adams-Flores (right)