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Average days for Judicial Hearings Officers to render decisions
Adjudicate alleged violations of City administrative laws. — Hear cases promptly and issue timely and fair decisions at OATH Hearings Division.
OATH's own reporting notes this figure fluctuates with hearing volume: decisions issued by Judicial Hearing Officers rose from about 200,000 in FY24 to over 216,000 in FY25 even as average decision time dipped slightly. The rise to 15 days reflected in the FY26 figure tracks a preliminary FY26 report showing decision times climbing from 10 to 14 days in the first four months of the fiscal year alongside a 12 percent increase in decisions issued.
Researched July 16, 2026 — OATH, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report, OATH, Preliminary Fiscal 2026 Mayor's Management Report
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual |
|---|---|
| FY22 | 10 days |
| FY23 | 9 days |
| FY24 | 12 days |
| FY25 | 11 days |
| FY26 (YTD) | 15 days |
Why this is tracked
Before 1979, city agencies conducted their own disciplinary and violation hearings using judges who were themselves employees of that same agency — a setup with an obvious conflict of interest. Mayor Ed Koch's Executive Order 32 in 1979 created the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings specifically to move those cases to a centralized team of independent Administrative Law Judges separate from the agencies referring the cases. In 1988, voters made OATH a permanent charter agency, establishing it as the first municipal central tribunal of its kind in the country.
About OATH — nyc.gov, New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings — Wikipedia
Source: OATH Hearings Division — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: The average time decisions were pending at the OATH Hearings Division calculated by dividing the total number of days decisions were pending at the Hearings Division by the total number of summonses heard and having a decision rendered at the OATH Hearings Division during the reporting period.