NEW YORK (AP) — New York City tried to fire an employee for missing about 18 months of work — though he was dead during some of that time.

The New York Post (http://bit.ly/1IPiJkQ ) reported Saturday on the case of Geoffrey Toliver.

The city Human Resources Administration accused the $38,000-a-year Medicaid eligibility specialist of abandoning his job as of November 2013.  An administrative law judge recommended last month that Toliver be fired, noting that he didn't appear for a July 1 hearing.

He couldn't: He'd died of cancer last Dec. 8, at 65.

A spokesman says the human resources agency took steps after calls and certified letters to Toliver's home went unanswered for over a year.

But Anthony Toliver says he believes his brother's family apprised his employer of his long hospitalization and death.