Read summaries of court cases and decisions that impact federal employees and retirees.
A district court has ruled that a small number of unsuccessful applicants for the DOJ Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program who claim their applications were excluded by agency political appointees during the Bush years for failure to pass a partisan litmus test may maintain a Privacy Act lawsuit against the department.
A fired Architect of the Capitol employee has learned a second time that it is pretty difficult to sue your former bosses for personal damages.
A finding of sexual harassment against an employee of the Department of Interior results in an award of $149,459.75 to the employee–even though she did not claim any lost pay.
A Customs and Border Protection Officer reported his car had been stolen. When police recovered the car and made an arrest, he tried to have the charges dropped. After admitting that the woman he initially claimed he did not know had been his mistress for some time, his future career as a federal employee was thrown into doubt. A federal court reviewed his removal appeal.
The Internal Revenue takes accessing taxpayer databases without an official business purpose seriously. The first offense can–and does–lead to removal. This 13-year federal employee was fired and the court upholds the removal.
A Homeland Security official was fired for being less than truthful over a machete attack involving his girlfriend’s son. A GPS tag sowed he had visited the house of a gang member on a number of occasions. He was fired for multiple reasons including unauthorized disclosure of government information and personal use of an immigration database. He filed an appeal of his removal that went to court.
A federal employee charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted rape of a child opted to retire when notified he would be indefinitely suspended without pay until the criminal charges were resolved. He opted to retire before an indefinite suspension was to take place. He then filed an appeal that went to federal court.
Federal agencies and federal employee unions have their own agendas with the result being disputes going on for years that seem to defy logic. The appeals court calls this case the “sort of dispute that could only arise between public employees and a governmental agency.”
A mail carrier was accused by a woman of stepping into her house to personally deliver mail to her, pushing her behind a door, grabbing her and kissing her.
A former Navy employee argued, in effect, that he did his job well and that removal was an unduly harsh penalty. The Merit Systems Protection Board thought removal was appropriate after the agency had imposed three disciplinary actions. The case then moved into federal court.
