It’s not often that a selection decision by a federal supervisor ends up before the US Supreme Court. In a new decision of the Court, a selection decision made by an official of the Forest Service ends up in a case involving the application of the Westfall Act–a law providing immunity for federal employees when acting in their official capacity.
A federal agency said it overpaid an employee by about $30,000 due to an error. It told the employee to pay up in 30 days or request a waiver. She requested the waiver but the agency starting taking the money from her check and did not respond to the waiver request. The employee went to court.
Can an employee of a contractor successfully sue a federal agency for sexual harassment. In this case, the court says a factual issue exists but there is enough evidence for this contractor employee to establish jurisdiction.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld the decision of an arbitrator finding that the firing of an employee at the National Personnel Records Center for poor performance was justified.
A federal employee is not always acting as an employee of the federal government. In this case, a court ruled that whether an agency employee was acting in an official capacity is an issue to be resolved by a jury.
An Air Force man thought the September 11 attacks were a “beautiful sight” and that the US deserved to be attacked. He ended up as a baggage screener with TSA but did not disclose his “near seditionist behavior” that led to an early discharge from the military. His appeal of his prison sentence is not convincing to a federal court.
The Internal Revenue Service does not play around with any employees who play games with their individual tax returns. The MSPB and a federal court recently upheld this theory as an IRS employee with improper deductions loses his appeals and his job.
A Postal Service employee gets a big win from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. He had a sleep disorder that led to excessive drowsiness and he was late to work frequently. He gets another shot at disability retirement as a result of a new court decision.
A GS-6 accounting technician argued that a 120-day suspension was retaliation against her for union activity after she was charged with several offenses including making false accusations against a supervisor. A federal court, however, finds the suspension was not an abuse of the agency’s discretion.
An Immigration Judge fired for repeated use of “sexist and ethnically insensitive generalizations” and profanity, failed to persuade the federal appeals court to overturn the Merit Systems Protection Board decision that upheld his firing.
