NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential. 

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit 

2009-3023 

LINDA V. SCHULTZ, 

Petitioner, 

v. 

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, 

Respondent. 

 Linda V. Schultz, of Houston, Texas, pro se. 

Seth W. Greene, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, 

United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, for respondent. With him on 

the brief were Jeanne E. Davidson, Director, and Mark A. Melnick, Assistant Director. 

Appealed from: Merit Systems Protection Board 
 NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential. 

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit 

2009-3023

LINDA V. SCHULTZ, 

 Petitioner, 

v. 

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, 

 Respondent. 

Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in 

DA0752070491-I-2. 

____________________________ 

DECIDED: April 6, 2009 

____________________________ 

 

Before LOURIE, FRIEDMAN, and PROST, Circuit Judges. 

PER CURIAM. 

Linda V. Schultz appeals from the final decision of the Merit Systems Protection 

Board (the “Board”) affirming her removal as postmaster. Schultz v. U.S. Postal 

Service, DA-0752-07-0491-I-2 (M.S.P.B. Final Order Oct. 3, 2008; Initial Decision July 

30, 2008). Because the United States Postal Service (“Postal Service”) reasonably 

removed Schultz for intentionally submitting a fraudulent divorce decree in a Postal 

Service investigation, we affirm. 

BACKGROUND 

Schultz was employed by the Postal Service beginning in 1983. In 1993, she 

married Wavily Britten. Schultz petitioned for divorce in 1999, but her petition was 
dismissed in June 2000 for want of prosecution. In June 2003, Britten received a 

contract for his janitorial service, B & B Maintenance, to perform janitorial services at the 

Dickenson, Texas Post Office, where Schultz was then postmaster. 

In April 2006, the officer in charge of the Dickinson Post Office reported 

discrepancies with the B & B Maintenance contract to the Postal Service’s Office of the 

Inspector General (“OIG”), which began an investigation. During the investigation, OIG 

agent Rodney Francois interviewed Schultz, who stated that she and Britten were 

divorced and faxed Francois a final divorce decree, dated December 27, 2001, as proof. 

Francois then discovered that the divorce decree was false, as it had not been issued 

by a court but had instead been counterfeited. Francois also found out that, at the time 

of the interview in May 2006, Schultz was carrying Britten and his two daughters on her 

federal health insurance policy as her spouse and stepchildren. 

On August 14, 2006, Schultz was informed that she would be removed from the 

Postal Service for improper conduct based on issues involving the contract with B & B 

Maintenance and the allegedly fraudulent divorce decree. Schultz appealed her 

removal to the Board, and the Postal Service rescinded its removal decision, stating that 

it intended to issue a new proposed removal. On April 23, 2007, Schultz received a 

second notice of proposed removal based on improper conduct. The notice stated the 

following: 

1. On or about May 18, 2006, you provided a false official document/ 

statement, wherein during the course of an OIG investigation regarding a 

contract between the [Postal Service] and Wavily Britten, you told OIG that 

you were divorced in 2003 and you later provided OIG a divorce decree 

dated December 27, 2001, which proved to be false. 

Or, in the alternative 

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2. On October 16, 2002 and on December 6, 2002 you recertified 

authorization for health benefits for Wavily Britten, Wayeisha Britten and 

Brean Britten. You also maintained said health benefits for Wavily Britten, 

Wayeisha Britten and Brean Britten from January 10, 2004 until November 

14, 2006 when they were not entitled to such benefits based on your 

divorce to Wavily Britten on December 27, 2001. 

Your actions are in violation of the Employee and Labor Relations Manual; 

specifically, Section 665.13 Discharge of Duties “Employees are expected 

to discharge their assigned duties conscientiously and effectively“ [and] 

Section 665.18 Behavior and Personal Habits “Employees are expected to 

conduct themselves during and outside of working hours in a manner that 

reflects favorably upon the Postal Service. Although it is not the policy of 

the Postal Service to interfere with the private lives of employees, it does 

require that postal employees be honest, reliable, trustworthy, courteous 

and of good character and reputation. . . . Employees must not engage in 

criminal, dishonest, notoriously disgraceful, immoral or other conduct 

prejudicial to the Postal Service.” 

Schultz was sent a notice of removal on June 29, 2007, which analyzed whether the 

penalty of removal was appropriate, in accordance with the factors set forth in Douglas 

v. Veteran’s Administration, 5 M.S.P.R. 280 (1981). Schultz again appealed her 

removal to the Board. 

In an initial decision issued on July 30, 2008, the administrative judge (“AJ”) 

affirmed the agency’s removal action. The AJ found that the divorce decree Schultz 

had provided to Francois was false, as Schultz has admitted. The AJ also found that 

Schultz had knowingly supplied false information with the intention of defrauding, 

deceiving, or misleading the Postal Service. In finding such intent, the AJ found that 

Schultz’s testimony lacked credibility when she claimed that she had believed that she 

and Britten were divorced and that the divorce decree was valid. Also, according to the 

AJ, Britten’s testimony lacked credibility when he stated that he had paid to procure a 

fraudulent divorce decree and had told Schultz that it was genuine; that testimony, if 

credible, might have precluded a finding of intent. The AJ instead found that “the fact 

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that [Schultz] carried Wavily Britten on her health insurance policy from at least 

December 2001 until November 2006, supports a finding that she knew that she and 

Wavily Britten were not divorced when she provided the fraudulent Decree to Francois.” 

Schultz, DA-0752-07-0491-I-2 at 13. Alternatively, the AJ found that the Postal Service 

had shown that Schultz improperly maintained health benefits for Wavily Britten. 

The AJ then found that the penalty of removal was reasonable and promoted the 

efficiency of the service, as Schultz’s conduct was intentional and was very serious in 

nature. According to the AJ, “[t]here is no doubt that a charge concerning the 

falsification of documents involves serious misconduct which affects an employee’s 

reliability, veracity, trustworthiness and ethical conduct and thus directly impacts on the 

efficiency of the service.” Id. at 19 (quotation marks omitted). Moreover, the AJ 

reasoned that, as a supervisor, Schultz was held to a higher standard of conduct than 

other employees. 

Finally, the AJ found that Schultz had failed to prove that the Postal Service had 

discriminated against her because of her race (African-American), sex (female), and/or 

color (black), reasoning that Schultz had failed to present any evidence to show that 

similarly situated employees were treated differently. Schultz then petitioned for review 

of the AJ’s decision. In a decision issued on October 3, 2008, the Board denied the 

petition, concluding that there was no new, previously unavailable evidence and that the 

AJ made no error in law or regulation that affected the outcome. Thus, the AJ’s initial 

decision became final. 

 Schultz timely appealed to this court. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1295(a)(9). 

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DISCUSSION 

The scope of our review in an appeal from a Board decision is limited. We can 

only set aside the Board’s decision if it was “(1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of 

discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (2) obtained without procedures 

required by law, rule, or regulation having been followed; or (3) unsupported by 

substantial evidence.” 5 U.S.C. § 7703(c) (2000); see Briggs v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 

331 F.3d 1307, 1311 (Fed. Cir. 2003). Substantial evidence is “such relevant evidence 

as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” McEntee v. 

Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 404 F.3d 1320, 1325 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (quotation marks omitted). 

Schultz argues that the Board improperly found that she intended to deceive the 

Postal Service. According to Schultz, there was no evidence of intent, and the Board 

simply relied on its determinations that both her testimony and Britten’s lacked 

credibility. Indeed, according to Schultz, the agency withdrew its allegation of fraud, 

which requires intent, in favor of an allegation of improper conduct, showing that the 

agency knew that it could not prove the intent element of the fraud charge. Schultz also 

argues that, regarding the Board’s alternative finding that she had improperly 

maintained health benefits for Britten, the Board was not entitled to recharacterize the 

agency’s charge in order to rule in the agency’s favor. Moreover, Schultz asserts that 

neither of the Board’s findings of improper conduct violates § 665.13 or § 665.18 of the 

Employee and Labor Relations Manual. Schultz argues that the Board failed to review 

her discrimination claim, and that the agency did not follow procedures in her case that 

it normally follows when removing other employees. Finally, according to Schultz, 

although the notice of removal of June 29, 2007 purported to address the Douglas

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factors, it was almost identical to the first notice of removal that she had received, which 

the agency had then rescinded. Thus, Schultz argues that she was not given the 

benefit of established procedures. 

The government responds that the Board carefully considered the testimony of 

both Schultz and Britten and that the Board was entitled to make a credibility 

determination on both. The government also asserts that the Board’s determination of 

intent is entitled to deference. Regarding the Board’s alternative finding, the 

government argues that the Postal Service’s notice of proposed removal indicated the 

same alternative basis for a finding of improper conduct, so the Board’s finding was not 

a recharacterization of the agency’s charge. As for Schultz’s discrimination claims, the 

government asserts that we do not have jurisdiction to consider them. The government 

also asserts that Schultz did not identify any procedures other than the notice of 

removal, which the government notes was not defective, that the Postal Service failed to 

follow. According to the government, the Board reviewed the detailed analysis of the 

relevant Douglas factors and affirmed the agency’s balancing of those factors. 

We agree with the government that substantial evidence supports the Board’s 

determination that Schultz’s removal was reasonable. Schultz conceded that the 

divorce decree that she submitted was false. Although a charge of improper conduct 

does not inherently require a finding of intent, when the agency’s charge is “entirely 

unspecific,” as is a charge of improper conduct, the Board may require the agency to 

prove intent. See LaChance v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 147 F.3d 1367, 1371-72 (Fed. Cir. 

1998). In this case, substantial evidence supports the Board’s finding that Schultz 

intended to deceive the Postal Service. As the Board found, Schultz’s act of keeping 

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Britten and his daughters on her health plan demonstrates that she knew that she and 

Britten were not divorced when she submitted the false divorce decree. Regarding the 

Board’s credibility determinations, the Board’s evaluation of witness credibility is 

“virtually unreviewable on appeal.” King v. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., 133 F.3d 

1450, 1453 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (quotation marks omitted). We therefore affirm the Board’s 

finding that Schultz intentionally submitted a fraudulent divorce decree as being 

supported by substantial evidence. 

We also agree that the penalty of removal was not inappropriate, as Schultz’s 

conduct was intentional and involved falsification of documents. Such conduct also 

violates § 665.18 of the Employee and Labor Relations Manual, which requires Postal 

Service employees to be honest. 

Finally, we agree that the Postal Service did not fail to follow its established 

procedures. The only specific example that Schultz provides in alleging a procedural 

error is that the Postal Service sent her two virtually identical notices of removal. 

However, no error was involved in sending the two notices; the Board thoroughly 

reviewed the Postal Service’s reasons for removal in its second notice and affirmed the 

agency’s balancing of the Douglas factors. We see no reason to disturb the Board’s 

findings. As for Schultz’s discrimination claim, we do not have jurisdiction to review it. 

Williams v. Dep’t of the Army, 715 F.2d 1485 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (en banc). 

We have considered Schultz’s remaining arguments and find them unpersuasive. 

Accordingly, we affirm the Board’s decision. 

COSTS 

 No costs.