Court Sends Case Back to MSPB For Penalty Review

A 19-year postal employee with no prior misconduct worked at a Post Office where she supervised clerks and served as the finance supervisor. She was demoted to a part-time job. The MSPB administrative judge sustained the penalty after finding only a lesser charge had been proved. A federal court returns the case as “The agency has not yet articulated what less severe sentence should be imposed when it proved only a much less severe charge.”

Court Upholds Removal After Employee Failed to Reveal Problems With Former Employer

An employee of the IRS told the agency he had never left a job “under unfavorable circumstances.” A background investigation revealed that was not necessarily the case, at least in the agency’s opinion. The employee appealed his removal to the MSPB and to federal court but his legal quest did not get him reinstated.

A Positive Drug Test? What Should We Do Now?

When this Army facility conducted random drug tests, it apparently never had a positive result. When one showed up, there was some confusion and, eventually, the employee was fired. The MSPB upheld the removal but the Federal Circuit sent the case back to the Board noting that “all relevant email related to (this) case is beyond question.”

Change Comes Slowly for Congressional Staffers–But This Staffer Can Claim a Court Victory

Congress has sometimes been referred to as “the last plantation.” But changes have come to the legislative branch–they just don’t happen very fast. In this case, a former Senate staffer claims he was terminated because he needed time off to recover from surgery and that he was “perceived as disabled.” But does the law apply when a Senator decides not to run for re-election? A court says that it does.

If at First You Don’t Succeed…Keep on Appealing

An applicant for a federal job with the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had been barred from federal employment because of a negative suitability determination by OPM. She appealed the disbarment to MSPB and signed a settlement agreement. When she did not get selected by BOP she filed a petition to get the MSPB to enforce the settlement agreement. She lost there and then went to federal court where the court agreed that she was trying to add provisions into the settlement agreement that OPM had not been willing to previously accept.