State Labor Department Judge rules in favor of former Sullivan County commissioner

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MONTICELLO – A State Labor Department administrative law judge has ruled in favor of former Sullivan County Commissioner of Health and Family Services Stephanie Brown who resigned from her job in February amidst controversy over contentious confrontations against her by County Legislator Luis Alvarez.

Under state law, if an employee resigns from their job, they are not entitled to collect unemployment insurance. Brown filed for that insurance benefit, which was rejected; however, she appealed based on her reasons for stepping down and Judge John Coffey approved the benefit in a May 18 decision.

Luis Alvarez
Stephanie Brown

In his ruling, the judge wrote that Alvarez “became frustrated” because he could not see his wife who was a patient at the county’s Sunset Lake nursing home. Brown was given the added responsibility of overseeing the nursing home after COVID-19 hit.

The judge wrote that Alvarez frequently called Brown after hours “and was angry and threatening

during those conversations. He would curse at [Brown] calling her a gender related pejorative. On other occasions he yelled at her and pointed his finger.”            In mid-2020, Brown filed a complaint with the county ethics board regarding Alvarez’s behavior. That board recommended that Alvarez take a course in anger management and sensitivity training. The matter was presented to the county legislature, which chose to take no action against Alvarez.

Several days later, Brown resigned.

Judge Coffey’s decision stated that, “The credible evidence established that [Brown] resigned her employment after the county legislature declined to take action against a legislator whose behavior towards [Brown] led her to make an ethics complaint which resulted in a recommendation for anger management and sensitivity training.”

The judge found that the actions of Alvarez “were beyond the bounds of workplace propriety in the way he yelled and cursed at [Brown] and referred to her with a gender related pejorative.”

He also found she “took reasonable steps to preserve her employment by making an ethics complaint and only resigned after the county legislature declined to act on the matter.”

Based on that information, Coffey concluded that Brown “had good cause to resign her employment and that it ended under circumstances that were not disqualified.”




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