Read summaries of court cases and decisions that impact federal employees and retirees.
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.
An explosives operator at Pine Bluff Arsenal told a co-worker he would “cut the buttons off her overalls” with the knife he was holding. She was not amused at the “joke” and the employee was fired. The appeal by the fired fed eventually went to a federal court.
Part-time employees have long been denied premium pay. A new decision from a federal court may change that practice as the court sends a case back to the lower court after concluding that an employee includes “those who work for pay.”
An FBI agent fired for taping his sexual encounters with three women had some success before the Federal Circuit.
A Criminal Investigator with the Department of Homeland Security who was fired for misconduct in connection with helping her mother try to win U.S. citizenship went to court to try and keep her job. The court sustains the MSPB conclusion that she should be fired.
