Court Cases

When a union representative signed a settlement agreement on behalf of an employee it was representing back in 2000, the agreement was not to litigate the issue further. The Postal Service probably thought the case was over. But the union then went to arbitration anyway, the employee went to the MSPB and then to federal court arguing that because he had not personally signed the agreement, it was invalid. Seven years later, the issue may now be resolved.

A Border Patrol agent who did not come to the aid of another agent asking for help while in a “hostile encounter” was fired by the agency. The fired agent offered the “I was fired because I was a whistleblower” defense that seemingly gets raised routinely in federal appeals. That didn’t fly nor did his argument that his colleague wasn’t really in trouble so a court upholds the removal action.

A mother and son worked at the same agency. The mother was a human resources specialist. Both of them were fired. The son was fired for falsification of job applications in the agency’s automated program. The son’s appeal went to federal court but the court upheld the credibility determination made by the administrative judge and he stays fired.

While the Air Force tolerated (an employee) continuing in his job “despite his inability to perform his full duties, the Air Force was not required to do so indefinitely.”

In addition to the typical defense that he was fired because he was a “whistleblower”, this Air Force employee argued that his “employment contract” with the government did not outline the standard of review for indefinite suspensions. Fortunately for agencies, the court held that an agency is not required prior to hiring a new employee “to provide…all the case law that may become relevant….”

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.

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 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.