A firefighter at a Naval Air Station had 26 years of federal service. He had a big problem with duty assignments and complained at length in a “loud and abrasive” manner. He got fired and then contended the removal was based on retaliation for being a whistleblower. It didn’t work and a court upholds the removal.
For a harassment claim to succeed, among other things the plaintiff has to show that her employer knew (or should have known) about the harassment and did nothing to stop it. In this case, the atmosphere in the federal group sounded like a script from a popular sitcom. But the employee waited several months to complain. The end result was a summary judgment decision for the agency.
An employee of the Merit Systems Protection Board applied for a job at another agency. He was entitled to veterans’ preference but he was not selected for the job. A federal court upholds the agency’s handling of the personnel action as an agency is not limited “to the competitive examination process in making its final selection.”
An Army EEO manager was erroneously issued a travel check and told not to cash it. But she cashed it and told the agency she had not received it. The official was fired and argued on appeal that it was her first offense so she should be able to keep her federal job. The court didn’t buy the argument.
A fired Postal Service worker claimed discrimination based on her military service. But, as the Administrative Judge pointed out, she had not been in the military. The fired fed did not see that as a problem limiting her appeal rights but a court took a different approach.
Does an order of the Merit Systems Protection Board supersede a collective bargaining agreement? A Postal Service employee, who had been demoted and suspended, contended the agency had an obligation to put him into a position that would have violated a union agreement. The Board and a federal court ruled the agency was not required to violate the union agreement.
An email that went from a Navy employee to the human resources office alleged incidents of abuse by the employee’s supervisors. The email violated the written instructions the employee had previously received to follow the chain of command. The employee was fired and loses on appeal.
A trainee with the Social Security Administration had a permanent job lined up after she graduated from college. When she did not graduate on time, the permanent job went up in smoke. She resigned and then appealed contending the agency coerced her resignation.
A former federal employee who was fired by the Air Force and went through an appeal with the MSPB applied for a job with the IRS and started work there. OPM discovered his removal and told the IRS to remove him. The errant former fed contended he did not realize he had been fired from the Air Force job.
Disrespectful conduct or retaliation for a whistleblower complaint? The VA suspended an employee for one day for an incident in November 2005. The case eventually went to court and the suspension stands.
