By Eric Katz – April 13, 2020 Federal agencies can launch retaliatory investigations against employees who blow the whistle on wrongdoing without violating anti-reprisal laws, a federal court has said in a precedent-setting ruling. While agencies cannot dock pay, deny promotions or engage in several other retaliatory personnel actions against whistleblowers, investigating a worker who…
By Susan McGuire Smith – February 13, 2020 In Ferguson v. U.S. Postal Service (CAFC No. 2019-1403 (nonprecedential) 11/7/19), a postal manager fought to get his job back after he was accused by a woman employee removed for poor performance of making inappropriate comments and gestures toward her while she worked for him. Mr. Ferguson…
By Ian Smith – August 2, 2018 OSC filed a complaint of Hatch Act violations with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) in March 2018 after the employee, a postal mail processing clerk, ran in two 2017 partisan elections. According to the complaint, the Hatch Act specifically prohibits USPS employees from running for election to…
By Stacey O’Connor – March 1, 2018 BENTON –U.S. District Judge David Herndon has dismissed a former U.S. Postal Service worker’s disability claim. Madelaine Sattlefield had filed a second amended complaint and in response to the Office of Personnel Management’s motion to dismiss, claiming federal court at the Southern District of Illionis had jurisdiction through…
“The United States Postal Service removed Ramon Canarios from the position of Postmaster based on a charge of unacceptable conduct, supported by numerous specifications of particular incidents. Mr. Canarios appealed the removal decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which upheld the removal. We affirm.” Mr. Canarios began working for the Postal Service on July…
If you’re in an agency that places employees on forced leave, beware: The law has changed, and how the Merit Systems Protection Board will adjudicate an appeal of such actions has dramatically shifted. A Postal Service supervisor for customer services submitted a request to work on light-duty assignment. The employee’s supervisor denied her request on…
