ksaldarini@govexec.com
Every Friday on GovExec.com, Legal Briefs reviews several cases that involve, or provide valuable lessons to, federal managers. We report on the decisions of a wide range of review panels, including the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority and federal courts.
Some people will go to great lengths to get a buddy hired. Consider what happened at the Newport Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island nearly ten years ago. Sharon Foster applied for a GS-11 position at the hospital, where she already worked. Foster had an advantage as she was the only "in-house" and minority applicant of the five final candidates for the position. At that time, the hospital's policy was to give selection priority to in-house applicants. In the end, however, Foster's status didn't help her out. In fact, none of the five final applicants were chosen for the job.
Instead, the job's grade level was lowered and another person who did not qualify at the GS-11 level position was selected.
Foster believed she had been discriminated against based on race and gender, and took her case to federal court. The court didn't find evidence of racial or gender bias, but said the case was a classic example of "an old boy nework, and favoritism."
As a result, the Office of Special Counsel investigated Foster's case. They found that two people in charge of the selection process had changed the grade level, qualifications and recruiting authority for the job in order to hire an old war buddy.
In their quest to get the old gang back together, it appears that the men forgot what they were doing was in violation of U.S. code and a prohibited personnel practice.
OSC recently settled the case with the Navy. Under the terms of the settlement, the Navy is not admitting any wrongdoing, but is paying Foster corrective relief in the form of a lump sum and attorney's fees.
Lesson: There's no such thing as selection preference for old war buddies.
Foster v. Dalton (71 F.3d 1st Cir. 1995) [PDF Format], U.S. Office of Special Counsel, June 10, 1999.
'Sick' Days
Milton Stone, a bank examiner at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, played hooky from work not once, not twice, but four times. Each time, Stone forged doctors' signatures on his leave forms.
Since Stone didn't seem too interested in coming to work (he had previously been suspended for 30 days as well), the FDIC decided to relieve him of that burden.
But after the FDIC fired him, Stone apparently became nostalgic for the workplace. He's spent the last three years trying to get the FDIC to take him back.
First, he filed an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board. When that didn't work, he took his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Last week, the circuit court sent the case back to the Merit Systems Protection Board on a technicality. Stone is hoping the board finds that the managers who fired him didn't dot all their i's and cross their t's when it came to due process.
Lesson: You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
Stone v. FDIC (98-3012), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, June 11, 1999.
Bad Advice
Defense Department employee Kelvin Martin wanted to take his car with him when he was transferred from Washington state to Okinawa, Japan. The folks at the travel office at Fairchild Air Force Base told Martin, mistakenly, that the government would pay the shipping costs.
So Martin drove 300 miles to the port in Auburn, Wash. At the port, Martin found out he wasn't eligible to ship his car. So Martin drove the 300 miles back to the Fairchild travel office to find out what he could do.
The folks at Fairchild apologized, then gave him more bad advice. They told Martin he could store the car state-side at government expense while he was in Japan.
Unfortunately for Martin, the government only covers the cost of storing cars for military personnel, not civilian employees. The Defense Department rejected his claim for the $1,080 it cost him to store the car. Martin also wanted the government to pay him back for his 600-mile waste-of-time trip to the port. But the General Services Board of Contract Appeals, which decides federal travelers' cases, ruled last week that the department cannot reimburse Martin just because the travel experts at Fairchild didn't know what they were talking about.
Lesson: If you get shipped overseas, be careful who you ask for relocation advice.
In the matter of Kelvin R. Martin (14879-RELO), General Services Board of Contract Appeals, June 11, 1999.