Read summaries of court cases and decisions that impact federal employees and retirees.
In yet another case involving the current wife and ex-wife fighting over a federal retiree’s survivor’s annuity, the appeals court finds error in handling by OPM and MSPB and bounces the case back for another round. See why.
Historically, federal agencies have used what is known as the “mailbox rule.” This maxim provides that if a notice or letter is properly addressed and duly mailed, it is presumed to have arrived at the mailing address in due course. However, the author cites cases which illustrate that this does not always work out as an agency would expect.
A supervisor with 44 years of service who failed to follow agency policy when a mail carrier was bitten while on duty ends up losing her job based on this and several other misjudgments in carrying out her supervisory responsibilities.
FLRA often gets its own law wrong in the opinion of the DC Circuit.
On June 3, the D.C. Circuit again reversed the FLRA for interpreting a law other than its own. The case, involving the negotiability of union proposals limiting Agency Inspector General investigations to procedures bargained with a union, demonstrated the Court’s continuing refusal to defer to an FLRA interpretation of a law other than the one it administers. The author suggests practitioners read the complete decision but addresses the highlights in his article.
When employees are not happy, employers – often unwittingly – pay the price. The author says that federal agency managers must not lose sight of this as they strive to operate with smaller and smaller budgets.
According to the appeals court, “somewhat boorish” actions of supervisors at Merit Systems Protection Board were the “ordinary tribulations of the workplace,” and did not add up to an actionable hostile work environment.
A fired Navy employee who tried to avoid relocation to D.C. by volunteering to serve on a grand jury has lost in her third round before the appeals court.
This is yet another case where a retired employee’s failure to designate his wife-in this case his fifth-to receive a survivor’s annuity means she gets nothing.
A retired federal employee killed his wife. Should the sons of the former federal employee receive the lump-sum payment from his annuity or should the son of the retired federal employee’s wife receive the money? The MSPB decides.
