Opinion
April 29, 1996
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Collins, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the application is denied, and the proceeding is dismissed.
It is well settled that, when determining an application for leave to serve a late notice of claim, the court must consider all relevant factors, including whether the petitioner has demonstrated a reasonable excuse for the failure to serve a timely notice of claim, whether the public corporation acquired actual knowledge of the essential facts constituting the claim within 90 days of its accrual or a reasonable time thereafter, and whether the delay would substantially prejudice the public corporation from maintaining its defense on the merits ( see, General Municipal Law § 50-e; Matter of Morehead v Westchester County, 222 A.D.2d 507; Matter of D'Anjou v. New York City Health Hosps. Corp., 196 A.D.2d 818; Matter of Townsend v New York City Hous. Auth., 194 A.D.2d 795).
Applying these factors to this case, we find that the Supreme Court improvidently exercised its discretion by granting the petitioner's application for leave to serve a late notice of claim. The petitioner's contention that she was unaware of the requirements of General Municipal Law § 50-e is not a reasonable excuse for her failure to serve a timely notice of claim ( see, Matter of Dockery v. Department of Hous. Preservation Dev., 223 A.D.2d 705; Weber v. County of Suffolk, 208 A.D.2d 527; Matter of Plantin v. New York City Hous. Auth., 203 A.D.2d 579). Moreover, while the petitioner filed grievances against the respondent Town of Hempstead (hereinafter the Town) with respect to flexible hours, overtime, and vacation schedules, these grievances were insufficient to alert the Town to the nature of the petitioner's proposed claim, which is to recover damages for violations of her constitutional and civil rights ( see, Matter of Bischert v County of Westchester, 212 A.D.2d 529; Matter of Shapiro v. County of Nassau, 208 A.D.2d 545). Sullivan, J.P., Pizzuto, Joy and Krausman, JJ., concur.