3.3 Discipline, Criminal Bars, and Penalties
Key Takeaways
- GBL §69-o bars specified felonies involving fraud, bribery, perjury, or theft; youthful-offender adjudications, sealed records, and a certificate of relief are not counted; other felonies or misdemeanors may still support denial under 19 NYCRR 195.14 and Correction Law Article 23-A.
- GBL §69-s allows suspension, revocation, a fine not exceeding $1,000 per violation, or a reprimand; a revoked license is not reinstated for 5 years.
- Hearing practice includes 10-day notice (GBL §§69-ss, 69-t) and Article 78 court review (GBL §69-u).
- Unlicensed practice is a misdemeanor under GBL §69-v: first conviction up to 6 months and/or $1,000; subsequent up to 1 year and $1,000–$5,000, with each violation separate. Civil GBL §69-vv penalties are $1,000, $2,000, $5,000, then $10,000.
- Late renewal under GBL §69-q(9) adds $60 within one year after expiration; after two years the person must meet original requirements again. Death of an individual licensee lets next of kin continue 60 days, with a possible 120-day extension.
Passing the written exam and hanging a license does not freeze you in place. The Department of State can deny, fine, reprimand, suspend, or revoke. Unlicensed operators face misdemeanor charges and a civil penalty ladder. This section is the discipline map: criminal bars, Correction Law review of other offenses, $1,000-per-violation licensee fines, five-year revocation, 10-day hearing notice, Article 78 review, unlicensed 69-v / 69-vv numbers, late renewal, and death of an individual licensee. OpenExamPrep presents the map as independent study of GBL Article 6-D and 19 NYCRR 195.14.
Disqualifying felonies: GBL §69-o
§69-o bars people convicted of felonies involving fraud, bribery, perjury, or theft under specified Penal Law articles. Those are honesty crimes that speak directly to whether customers can trust an installer with keys, codes, and unsupervised access to dwellings and fire systems.
Not counted toward that 69-o bar:
- Youthful offender adjudications
- Sealed records
- A certificate of relief from disabilities, as the statute directs
A youthful-offender finding is not the same object as an adult felony conviction. Sealing and a certificate of relief also change how 69-o counts the history. Do not invent extra "moral character" essays on top of the statutory counting rules, and do not ignore a live, unsealed honesty felony that is on the specified list.
This study section does not reproduce the full Penal Law article list. On the exam, look for fraud, bribery, perjury, or theft as the categories, not for a random traffic felony labeled as an automatic 69-o bar.
Other convictions: 19 NYCRR 195.14 and Correction Law Article 23-A
A felony or misdemeanor outside the 69-o list can still lead to denial. 195.14 points to Correction Law Article 23-A, New York's statute for weighing a conviction against a license. Article 23-A is a balancing review — relationship of the offense to the licensed work, time elapsed, and related factors — not an automatic second bar list. Exam contrast: 69-o is the specified honesty-felony bar (with youthful-offender / sealed / certificate carve-outs). 195.14 is the residual track where other crimes may still be denied under Article 23-A.
A candidate who discloses an old non-honesty misdemeanor is not automatically licensed and is not automatically refused. DOS still has a 23-A analysis. A candidate who hides a live 69-o felony has both a bar problem and a truthfulness problem on the employee statement or application.
Licensee discipline: GBL §69-s
For someone who has (or had) the license, DOS may:
- Suspend the license
- Revoke the license
- Impose a fine not exceeding $1,000 per violation
- Issue a reprimand
Revoked licenses are not reinstated for five years. Do not confuse that five-year lockout with the two-year license term or the two-year exam-result validity window. They are different clocks.
Per violation means stacking is possible. Missing ID cards on three employees can be three violations. A reprimand is the light end; revocation plus a five-year wait is the heavy end. Skipping employee fingerprints from section 3.1, running without a qualifier after the section 3.2 runway, or advertising without the 195.16 legend are 69-s fact patterns when the actor is a licensee — not 69-v unlicensed practice, which is a different defendant.
Hearing notice and court review: §§69-ss, 69-t, 69-u
§§69-ss and 69-t require 10-day notice of hearing. That is the opportunity to appear before DOS takes final action in the hearing process. §69-u then points to Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules — a petition in Supreme Court to review a governmental determination. Article 78 is judicial review, not a second DOS application form and not an automatic license reinstatement. Filing an Article 78 petition does not, by itself, erase a revocation or restart the five-year clock.
Unlicensed practice: GBL §69-v (criminal) and §69-vv (civil)
§69-v makes unlicensed practice a misdemeanor. Each violation is separate. Three jobs without a license are not "one unlicensed business" for counting purposes.
| Criminal conviction | Imprisonment | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| First | Up to 6 months | And/or up to $1,000 |
| Subsequent | Up to 1 year | $1,000–$5,000 |
§69-vv civil penalties for unlicensed practice, by count:
| Civil count | Amount |
|---|---|
| First | $1,000 |
| Second | $2,000 |
| Third | $5,000 |
| Fourth and subsequent | $10,000 |
Do not swap the ladders. The first criminal conviction is six months and/or $1,000, not the fourth civil hit of $10,000. Civil 69-vv can run in addition to the criminal case. Subsequent criminal convictions jump both jail (up to one year) and the fine range ($1,000 to $5,000).
Late renewal, assignment, and death: GBL §69-q
| Event | Rule to remember |
|---|---|
| Late renewal | $60 if renewed within one year after expiration (§69-q(9)) |
| More than two years after expiration | Must meet original requirements again |
| Assignment / transfer | Statutory process exists; the license is not a casual handoff to a buyer |
| Death of an individual licensee | Next of kin may continue 60 days, with a possible 120-day extension |
The $60 late amount is a renewal surcharge, not the 69-s disciplinary fine and not the 69-v criminal fine. After two years past expiration, you are back to original licensing requirements (currently the education-and-exam path for a typical applicant), not a cheap revival.
Assignment and transfer rules exist so a license cannot be sold like a used van. This chapter does not teach a closing checklist; it teaches that DOS process, not a bill of sale, is what moves authority.
Death of an individual licensee is not the same sentence as "the LLC qualifier quit," but the 60 + 120 shape is easy to mix up with §69-q(3)'s qualifier-loss runway. For death, the actor is next of kin. For a qualifier who ceases, the actor is the entity, which must notify within 14 days.
How this connects to 3.1 and 3.2
Skip employee fingerprints or 24-hour filing, and you are in 69-s territory as a licensee. Operate after the qualifier's 60-day (plus any 120-day) window with nobody in real control, same statute. Never license at all, and the State uses 69-v and 69-vv instead of a $1,000 licensee fine. Youthful offender, sealed, and certificate-of-relief rules change 69-o counting; they do not authorize lying on a 195.15 statement. Article 23-A still exists for other crimes.
If DOS revokes, do not plan to reapply next season: five years. If DOS merely lets a license expire, the cheaper problem is the $60 late renewal within one year — still a very different outcome from revocation.
Exam mix-ups to refuse
- Treating every felony as a 69-o automatic bar, or counting youthful-offender / sealed / certificate-of-relief records as if they were live specified honesty felonies.
- Using $1,000 as both the 69-s licensee cap and the only unlicensed number, ignoring 69-v jail time and the 69-vv civil ladder.
- Confusing five-year revocation with two-year license term or two-year exam-result validity.
- Calling Article 78 a DOS form, or a 10-day hearing a court trial.
- Treating the $60 late-renewal surcharge as criminal punishment, or giving next of kin a year to run an individual licensee's business with no 60 / 120 figures.
Under GBL §69-s, how long after revocation must a person wait before a Security or Fire Alarm Installer license may be reinstated?
A first conviction for unlicensed practice under GBL §69-v is a misdemeanor punishable by:
What is the GBL §69-vv civil penalty scale for unlicensed practice?