The State University at Fredonia is being sued by a professor the university said couldn’t accept a position as Dunkirk High School’s assistant principal.

Attorneys for Laura Geraci, an associate professor in SUNY Fredonia’s College of Education, have filed an Article 78 proceeding in state Supreme Court in Mayville declaring that SUNY Fredonia did not comply with its own policies and that not allowing Geraci to accept the part-time interim position was arbitrary and capricious; to allow Geraci to seek part-time employment and to reimburse Geraci for the lost wages from the part-time position.

Geraci was offered a position on Aug. 16 as Dunkirk High School’s part-time interim assistant principal. Geraci said accepting the position would have allowed her to augment her income as well as supporting her scholarship and research.

SUNY Fredonia officials, after consulting with SUNY system human resources officials in Albany, denied Geraci’s request to take the Dunkirk High School job.

They cited that it would interfere with Geraci’s obligation to SUNY Fredonia.

“While the proposal may not directly conflict with your class schedule, you also have campus obligations including office hours, advising and scholarship,” Jennifer Costa, SUNY Fredonia acting director of human resources, said in an email to Geraci on Aug. 29. The email was submitted by Geraci as evidence in her court filing.

Geraci’s lawyers contend the assistant principal position didn’t conflict with Geraci’s duties to hold office hours or advise students. Robert T. Reilly, Geraci’s attorney, wrote in his filing that the SUNY Extra Service for Professional Staff Policy states that employees can’t engage in employment that interferes with an employee’s professional obligation, that full-time employees can’t assume another full-time positions or obligation inside or outside the university while being paid by the university. The SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees state that no employee can engage in other employment that interferes with the performance of the employee’s professional obligation.

Geraci would have been required to work between one and three days a week from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for no more than 21 hours a week. The Dunkirk position would have paid Geraci $450 a day. Her position at SUNY Fredonia includes classes from 11 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. Mondays and 4:30 to 9:20 p.m. Wednesdays. Costa asked Geraci to send details about the Dunkirk position to her so that the information could be reviewed by SUNY officials. Geraci responded by naming the employer, job description, hours per week and that the work happens outside of Geraci’s regular obligation at SUNY Fredonia. Geraci states no other information was requested.

“The sole limitation on other employment for SUNY professors is that ‘which interferes with the performance of the employee’s professional obligation,'” Reilly wrote in his memorandum of law. “At the time SUNY Fredonia denied Dr. Geraci the opportunity to pursue her other employment with the district, all it knew about the position was the job location, job title, hours of work and that it did not conflict with Dr. Geracei’s on campus obligations. … Nevertheless, with a total disregard for the facts, without any investigation, in complete contradiction to its own policies and procedures, and without a sound basis for its decision, SUNY Fredonia denied Dr. Geraci the opportunity to earn additional income and pursue her scholarship and research.”