The doctor at the center of the corruption case that toppled former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver won a round in his lawsuit against Columbia University over his firing after more than 35 years on the job.
In three just-released decisions, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Manuel Mendez reinforced a July court order that protects Dr. Robert Taub by barring Columbia from interfering with his “salary, work, research and staff” until the school goes through the proper motions of terminating him.
Mendez also sided with Taub in his motion to hold Columbia in civil contempt for violating the judge’s order by trying to slash Taub’s salary from $300,000 to $105,871 and firing his staff.
But Mendez said the university did not act “willfully.”
Taub still works at the facility pending the outcome of his lawsuit.
Mendez previously found that Columbia violated its own rules in pink-slipping the tenured oncologist a day after Silver was indicted in 2015, saying Taub was entitled to a hearing over his termination.
Taub, a mesothelioma researcher, admitted that he received $500,000 in state research grants in exchange for referring sick patients to the Silver-affiliated law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg.