Opinion ID: 760829
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Civil Service Leave of Absence

Text: 27 Alexander claims that the Board should be required to recognize his mandatory unpaid leave of absence as an exception to coverage under the Hatch Act. Acknowledging that the court in Minnesota Department of Jobs and Training v. Merit Systems Protection Board, 875 F.2d 179, 183 (8th Cir.1989), specifically held that the Hatch Act applies without regard for an employee's leave status, Alexander argues that the case was wrongly decided. We disagree. The Eighth Circuit explained that 28 the legislative history of the provisions of the Act makes it unmistakably clear that covered state employees are subject to the prohibitions of the Act regardless of leave status. During hearings on a proposal to extend the Hatch Act to state and local government employees, Congress specifically considered and rejected a provision which would have exempted from the Hatch Act's prohibitions those candidates who had taken a leave of absence without pay. 86 Cong.Rec. 2872-75 (1940). The legislative history of the Act further discloses that the intent of the statute was to prohibit partisan candidacy by any covered employee who had not resigned from his or her employment. See 86 Cong.Rec. 9447 (1940). 29 Id. 30 Further, Alexander's reliance upon the dissent in Minnesota is misplaced. Thomas Kehoe, the plaintiff in that case, was aware of and relied upon the federal district court decision in Johnson v. Cushing, 483 F.Supp. 608 (D.Minn.1980), an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in which the court held the Hatch Act did not apply to a state employee on leave of absence. Alexander fails to recognize that the dissenters in Minnesota agreed with the majority that Johnson was wrongly decided, and only took issue with the conclusion that Kehoe could not have reasonably relied upon the Johnson decision. Of course, Alexander has a much weaker argument than Kehoe, because Alexander did not claim to have relied upon Johnson, or any federal district court decision for his claim that he was not covered by the Hatch Act. In fact, no one ever told Alexander that he could run for office without violating the Hatch Act. 7