Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

Thus, the Board makes no determination of whether harassment occurred and does not require the
Office to make factual determinations of whether an employee was the victim of harassment or
discrimination. The Board does, however, rely on the findings of agencies or bodies which have
the authority, and whose function it is, to decide the validity of an employee's allegations.
In the case of Norman A. Harris, 42 ECAB 923, the employee alleged that he sustained an
emotional condition causally related to his federal employment. The employee was terminated by
his employing establishment for falsifying his time records. He appealed the termination to the
Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and was restored to his position. The MSPB found:
There was no showing that the appellant intentionally misrepresented his hours or deceived
the agency by claiming hours that he did not work.... The charges in this case are
predicated upon the appellant reporting late on various dates during the period in question.
However, I note that the agency presented no evidence from Paramount officials who could
verify [whether or not appellant was] at work.
The MSPB reversed the removal action. Based on the MSPB decision the Board found that the
employing establishment had terminated the employee without the proper evidence and that this
error was sufficient to bring any emotional reaction by the employee to the termination action
within the coverage of the Act. The Office was directed to determine whether the employee had
established that he sustained an emotional condition causally related to the termination action.
f. Erroneous Administrative Actions. In Robert E. Green, 37 ECAB 145, the employee alleged
an emotional condition stemming from charges that he had falsified lodging costs on his travel
vouchers and a finding that he had to reimburse the Government $24,423.14. He was removed
from his position for falsifying official records for monetary gain and for other unrelated charges.
The MSPB found no evidence of willful intent to defraud the agency by submitting false travel
vouchers and no evidence that the lodging expenses submitted were false, but sustained the
employee's removal on the other charges. Citing 5 U.S.C. 5702, which provides a per diem
allowance for Federal government employees traveling on official business away from a designated
post of duty, the Board found that the employee's emotional reaction to the denial of the
reimbursement of his travel expenses constituted an injury sustained in the performance of duty.
The circumstances relating to the travel vouchers were part of the employment and related to the
duties the employee was employed to perform. Since the employee had been exonerated of
charges that he falsified official records, there was no wrongful misconduct charge which would
prevent coverage of his alleged emotional condition under the Act.
In Mary Alice Cannon, claiming as widow of Aubrey B. Cannon, 33 ECAB 1235, the
employee received an erroneous personnel action reducing his salary. He suffered cardiac arrest
and subsequent total disability leading to his death. Prior to his death the erroneous personnel
action was corrected and the employee received a check for the amount by which his salary had
been reduced. The claim was denied because the employee's cardiac arrest was not "closely
associated with his job duties." The Board found that the employee's cardiac arrest and
subsequent disability leading to his demise was an injury sustained in the performance of duty.
FECA-PT2 Printed: 06/08/2010 200