Court Cases

A federal employee won $40,000 in her discrimination complaint. She wasn’t happy with that result and went to court. She lost and was ordered to pay back the $40,000.

Several anonymous employees of the Social Security Administration sought to get more comp time from the agency by going to court. Their argument: We should get 1.5 hours of comp time for each hour worked just as we get 1.5 hours of overtime for each hour worked. The court disagrees.

This fired Postal Worker appealed to the MSPB and argued that he did not start the fight which led to his removal, did not cause severe bodily injury as alleged by the agency, and he had acted in self defense. He also argued removal was too severe because he had 20 years of federal service. The Court didn’t buy the argument.

A supervisor who changed records to show that employees were coming in before their scheduled time of work got fired. An appeals court says that is a reasonable penalty.

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….”