Opinion ID: 722408
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Kye

Text: 18 The Defense Logistics Agency employed Sharon Kye as a Supervisory General Supply Specialist at the Defense Distribution Depot in Norfolk, Virginia. The agency removed her for several offenses related to alleged misuse of a Diners Club card that the agency issued to her for use in official travel. The agency also charged her with providing false information in an official investigation based on her contradictory statements regarding her use of the card during the time in question. 19 In an initial decision, an AJ sustained most of the charges relating to Kye's alleged misuse of the card. The AJ also sustained the falsification charge, finding that Kye provided false information regarding her control over the card during the time in question. In particular, she initially replied to the charges by stating that the card was missing from the drawer where she kept it during the period of its alleged misuse and that she tore it up when it reappeared. During another interview, she stated that she tore up the card about three weeks earlier. Later, however, she stated that she meant to say that she confronted the problem about three weeks earlier but did not regain control of the card until about two weeks later. In addition, the agency claimed that she used the card at a motel during the time in question, and it produced a copy of a signed registration form from the motel. Kye stated in response that, although the signature on the registration form resembled her own, she did not recall being at the motel. The AJ found that Kye's statements contained many improbabilities and inconsistencies. For example, the AJ found that in order to believe Kye's statements that she may have used the card, he would have had to disbelieve her statements that she lost control of the card. The AJ also found that she had not met her burden of proof on her affirmative defenses of discrimination for making a protected disclosure and for a handicapping condition. Accordingly, the AJ found that Kye provided false statements to the agency, and he upheld the penalty of removal. 20 Kye petitioned for review by the full board. The board analyzed her affirmative defense of handicap discrimination and found that it lacked merit. Based on its decision in Walsh, the board summarily reversed the falsification charge and mitigated the penalty to a 45-day suspension.