Ingrid Butler v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

CourtMerit Systems Protection Board
DecidedOctober 22, 2024
DocketDA-0752-20-0060-I-1
StatusUnpublished

This text of Ingrid Butler v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Ingrid Butler v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Merit Systems Protection Board primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ingrid Butler v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, (Miss. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD

INGRID BUTLER, DOCKET NUMBER Appellant, DA-0752-20-0060-I-1

v.

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE DATE: October 22, 2024 CORPORATION, Agency.

THIS FINAL ORDER IS NONPRECEDENTIAL 1

Morgan Velasquez , Esquire, and Tyler J. Sroufe , Esquire, Dallas, Texas, for the appellant.

Johnathan P. Lloyd , Esquire, and Sharon Lock Davis , Esquire, Dallas, Texas, for the agency.

BEFORE

Cathy A. Harris, Chairman Raymond A. Limon, Vice Chairman Henry J. Kerner, Member

FINAL ORDER

¶1 The appellant has filed a petition for review of the initial decision, which sustained her removal based on a charge of excessive absences. For the reasons discussed below, we GRANT the appellant’s petition for review, REVERSE the

1 A nonprecedential order is one that the Board has determined does not add significantly to the body of MSPB case law. Parties may cite nonprecedential orders, but such orders have no precedential value; the Board and administrative judges are not required to follow or distinguish them in any future decisions. In contrast, a precedential decision issued as an Opinion and Order has been identified by the Board as significantly contributing to the Board’s case law. See 5 C.F.R. § 1201.117(c). 2

administrative judge’s finding sustaining the agency’s charge, VACATE the administrative judge’s nexus and penalty analysis, and except as expressly MODIFIED to supplement the discussion of the appellant’s affirmative defenses, AFFIRM the remainder of the initial decision. The appellant’s removal is NOT SUSTAINED.

BACKGROUND ¶2 The appellant, who served as a CG-12 Compliance Examiner, sustained a back injury while on a work trip. Initial Appeal File (IAF), Tab 1 at 10, 24. Starting on September 25, 2017, due to ongoing medical issues, the appellant stopped reporting to work and was placed in a leave without pay status. IAF, Tab 24 at 5, 20-69. Subsequently, the agency granted the appellant’s request for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), which was exhausted as of May 18, 2018. Id. at 207-209. The appellant did not return to work, and on July 3, 2018, Federal Occupational Health (FOH) sent a letter to the agency, explaining that the appellant’s provider indicated that she had multiple medical conditions “necessitating continued leave,” and that he was “unable to provide any return to work date” at that time. Id. at 250. Subsequently, the appellant’s second-level supervisor issued a notice of excessive absence, dated July 26, 2018, stating, among other things, that the appellant’s continued absence was causing an undue hardship to the agency, and that the agency may take an adverse action based on her record of excessive absenteeism if she failed to return to full-time duty by August 13, 2018, regardless of whether her absences were approved. Id. at 253-54. The appellant did not return to work, instead emailing her second-level supervisor, explaining that her medical conditions required further continuous leave and her doctor could not provide a return to work date at that time. Id. at 280. ¶3 Thereafter, the agency issued the appellant a notice of proposed removal for excessive absences, alleging that she was absent from her position for over 1,400 3

hours from September 25, 2017, to September 1, 2018, excluding the 480 hours she was on FMLA-protected leave. Id. at 10-13. The appellant did not make an oral or written reply, and the deciding official issued a decision sustaining the charge and removing the appellant effective December 20, 2018. Id. at 4-9. The appellant subsequently filed a formal equal employment opportunity (EEO) complaint concerning her removal and timely filed this appeal following the issuance of the final agency decision. IAF, Tab 1 at 9-21. ¶4 The administrative judge issued a decision on the written record, sustaining the agency’s removal action, finding that the agency established the charge of excessive absences, nexus, and the reasonableness of the penalty. IAF, Tab 52, Initial Decision (ID) at 3-8, 13-16. He further found that the appellant failed to prove her affirmative defenses of disability discrimination based on a failure to accommodate and EEO retaliation. ID at 10-13. The appellant has filed a petition for review, challenging the administrative judge’s findings related to the merits of the charge, the finding of nexus, and the reasonableness of the penalty. Petition for Review (PFR) File, Tab 3 at 7-14. She also alleges that the agency did not engage in the interactive process and failed to reasonably accommodate her, and that her supervisor had motive to retaliate against her because of a prior EEO complaint. Id. at 8-9, 14-17.

DISCUSSION OF ARGUMENTS ON REVIEW

The length of the appellant’s absence after the agency warned her she may face disciplinary action is not sufficiently unreasonable to establish a charge of excessive absence. ¶5 As a general rule, an agency may not take an adverse action based on an employee’s use of approved leave. Coombs v. Social Security Administration, 91 M.S.P.R. 148, ¶ 12 (2002). However, an exception applies when the following criteria are met: (1) the employee was absent for compelling reasons beyond her control so that agency approval or disapproval of leave was immaterial because she could not be on the job; (2) the absences continued beyond a reasonable time, 4

and the agency warned the employee that an adverse action could be taken unless she became available for duty on a regular, full-time or part-time basis; and (3) the agency showed that the position needed to be filled by an employee available for duty on regular, full-time or part-time basis. Cook v. Department of the Army, 18 M.S.P.R. 610, 611-12 (1984). This exception is applicable only under unusual circumstances, such as when the employee is unable to return to duty because of the continuing effects of illness or injury. Id. at 612. ¶6 After the issuance of the initial decision, the Board clarified the absences that could be used to support an excessive absence charge in Williams v. Department of Commerce, 2024 MSPB 8, ¶¶ 6-12. Specifically, the Board held that, as here, when an agency charges an appellant with excessive absence, it may only rely on absences that occurred after the appellant received warning that she may be disciplined if she did not become available for duty. Williams, 2024 MSPB 8, ¶¶ 6-8. In the instant case, the agency first warned the appellant that she could be disciplined for her approved absence in the agency’s notice of excessive absence letter, which was received by the appellant on Friday, July 27, 2018, via email. 2 IAF, Tab 24 at 252-56. Therefore, the earliest date the agency could use to support its charge is the first workday after the warning, i.e., Monday, July 30, 2018. As noted above, the agency’s charge covers the appellant’s absences through September 1, 2018. Id. at 12. Therefore, in support of its excessive absences charge, the agency may only use the period from July 30 to September 1, 2018, which consists of 25 workdays. 3 Williams, 2024 MSPB 8, ¶¶ 6-8. Such a relatively short period of absence does not prove an excessive absence charge. Stated another way, 25 days of absence is not sufficient to 2 The agency also sent its notice of excessive absence letter by regular mail, as well as certified mail, which the appellant received on August 1, 2018. IAF, Tab 24 at 277-78. 3 Because the notice of excessive absence letter designated August 13, 2018 as the return to duty date, it could be argued that the charge only covers 15 workdays, between August 13 and September 1, 2018. IAF, Tab 24 at 254.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

John H. Kerr v. National Endowment for the Arts
726 F.2d 730 (Federal Circuit, 1984)
Perry v. Merit Systems Protection Bd.
582 U.S. 420 (Supreme Court, 2017)
George Haas v. Department of Homeland Security
2022 MSPB 36 (Merit Systems Protection Board, 2022)
Marguerite Pridgen v. Office of Management and Budget
2022 MSPB 31 (Merit Systems Protection Board, 2022)
Randall Desjardin v. U.S. Postal Service
2023 MSPB 6 (Merit Systems Protection Board, 2023)
Macaulay Williams v. Department of Commerce
2024 MSPB 8 (Merit Systems Protection Board, 2024)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Ingrid Butler v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ingrid-butler-v-federal-deposit-insurance-corporation-mspb-2024.