In June 2014, the appellant, a Security Specialist at the Department of Defense, took an extra $5.00 worth of food from the agency cafeteria without paying for the additional food. The agency removed the appellant based on this conduct and charging a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the deciding official’s ex parte communications in the Air Force’s termination proceedings is a violation of the due process clause.

In two opinions issued on August 12, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the Department of Veterans Affairs erroneously interpreted the provisions of the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 when disciplining its employees. The purpose of the 2017 law, codified at 38 U.S.C. § 714, was to provide for expedited discipline of VA employees, strip MSPB of its authority to mitigate the VA’s chosen penalty, and to impose a less rigorous burden of proof on the agency at the appellate level than a traditional MSPB appeal.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit described the litigation of a case it adjudicated on May 14, 2021 as “the decade-long journey of a hard-working man who served his country honorably, only to face workplace discrimination on the basis of that service.” In its opinion, the Federal Circuit held that the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) erred in finding that the candidate’s nonselection for a position at the Department of the Navy would have occurred “regardless of his prior military service.”

Before a federal employee can be terminated for unacceptable performance, the employing agency must provide the employee with an opportunity to demonstrate acceptable performance.

McKenzie Holmes was a U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) employee from 1989, until his removal in 2018. At the time of his removal, he worked as a city carrier at the Fort Dearborn Station in Chicago.