A petition filed by a former Falconer school bus driver who claimed he was let go due to his age was denied earlier this spring in state Supreme Court.

Thomas Zofchak had sought to file a late claim against Falconer after his employment ended in April 2022. He began working as a bus driver in 2001 at the age of 61, and charged in court documents that the district began treating him differently beginning in 2021 because of his age.

Falconer denied the claim.

Zofchak’s attorney, R. Thomas Rankin, brought a petition late last December to file a late notice of claim. Zofchak said he was prevented from driving a bus though he was “ready, willing and able to do so.”

In court documents, Zofchak stated that he passed a bus driver physical proficiency test in 2021. The district, however, stated that he failed a medical exam the same year.

At the center of the petition before Supreme Court Judge Grace Hanlon was whether Falconer Central School would be prejudiced by Zofchak filing a late claim and whether the claim had merit.

In a memo, Hanlon wrote that Zofchak “failed to establish any reasonable excuse for the delay in seeking the relief sought herein. The law is settled that a petitioner’s ignorance of the statutory requirement to serve the notice of claim within ninety days after the claim arose is not a reasonable excuse.”

While Hanlon acknowledged that Falconer Central School would not likely be prejudiced by a late filing, she said Zofchak’s claim lacked merit.