Class actions in administrative cases

Interesting discussion of an unusual action on the New York Public Personnel Law: "Class actions challenging administrative decisions".

“Class action” relief is rare in the public sector because courts have traditionally viewed expanding the “plaintiff class” to all members of a certain group unnecessary due to the legal principle called stare decisis (to abide by past decisions).

Stare decisis is the judicial doctrine that once a court has laid down a principle of law applicable to a certain set of facts, that principle will be applied in future cases involving the same facts. For example, if a public employee wins the right to overtime as a result of a court’s interpretation the Civil Service Law, all similar situated public employees would have an identical right to overtime under stare decisis.*

However, there can be exceptions to this general rule about the inappropriateness of class actions by public employees. The Appellate Division’s consolidated decision in Holcomb and Hetherington cases illustrate such an exception.

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EMM