Opinion ID: 13423
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sarabyn for the Period of his Termination

Text: 48 The district court properly denied Sarabyn's motion for certification for his period of termination. Sarabyn argues that he should be certified as acting in the scope of his employment with the ATF for the period from October 28 to December 21, 1994. During this period, he was terminated from the ATF. However, pursuant to a settlement, he was reinstated to his former position retroactively to the date of termination with back pay and all his benefits restored. Sarabyn argues that because the settlement explicitly stated that the reinstatement was retroactive to the date of termination and provided for back pay and benefits, it would be inconsistent not to certify him under the Westfall Act for this period. The Government has not moved to certify Sarabyn for this period. 49 Without deciding whether Sarabyn's reinstatement would be adequate to constitute him an employee under the Westfall Act during the period of his termination, that reinstatement is not sufficient to bring his conduct during that period within the protections of the Westfall Act. In the case of defamation, Texas law requires that the allegedly defamatory statement be referable to a duty and incident to the discharge of that duty to impute liability to the employer. See Texam Oil, 436 S.W.2d at 130. During the period of his termination, Sarabyn had no duty to the ATF that he could be discharging as he was not then charged with any duties to the ATF. His retroactive reinstatement does not place a duty upon him after the fact that would then allow him to have been acting within the scope of his employment.