Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

the result or being terminated from his employment because of discrimination. The evidence
showed that the employee's dismissal was properly based on his willful misconduct and the charges
of discrimination were unsupported. The Board found that the employee's emotional upset was
self-generated and did not arise out of or in the course of his Federal employment.
In Helen Marrotte, claiming as widow of Walter E. Marrotte, 36 ECAB 670 (1985), the employee
accepted stolen military clothing from a co-worker who claimed to have found it in a locker. The
employee was found to have had no part in the theft, but he received a written reprimand for
having in his possession military clothing not received through regular supply channels. He filed a
grievance but died of cardiac arrest before hearing were concluded. The Board found that,
regardless of whether the employee knew that the clothing had been stolen, his acceptance of it
through other than official channels was unrelated to his regular day-to-day duties, his specifically
assigned duties or to a requirement imposed by his employment, and therefore the proceedings
instituted against him were not factors of his employment.
In Pauline Phillips 36 ECAB 377 (1984), the employee, a postmaster, signed a petition regarding a
community problem, which lead to a complaint filed against her by a local businessman. She
received notice from the Postal Service that the complaint would be investigated. She alleged that
worry over this caused her to develop an anxiety reaction and congestive heart failure. No
investigation was initiated and Postal Service officials assured the employee that no adverse action
would be taken against her. In finding that the employee was not entitled to coverage under the
Act, the Board noted that her emotional reaction allegedly resulted from a situation which did not
involve her ability to perform her day-to-day duties, or a special assignment, or because of a
requirement imposed by the employing establishment. The situation arose because she exercised
her rights as a private citizen.
The Board noted a similarity to the case of Manuel W. Vetti, 33 ECAB 750 (1982), a postmaster
who developed a disabling emotional condition due to his reaction in an investigation involving a
sale to the employing establishment of a parcel of land in which he had an interest. The Board
found that the fact that the investigation would not have been initiated if Vetti were not a
postmaster was "not a sufficient link to employment to consider his emotional reaction to it to have
arisen out of the employment."
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