Opinion ID: 722408
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Barrett and Roberts

Text: 21 The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, employed Michael G. Barrett and Jerome K. Roberts as Soil Scientists at the Natural Resources and Engineering Laboratory in Gallup, New Mexico. The agency alleged that they left work during duty hours to help their supervisor build a fish pond at his home. The agency charged them with making a false claim on a time and attendance report based on their 1.5 hours of claimed duty time when they were allegedly building the fish pond; failing to report an act of fraud, waste, and abuse consisting of their supervisor's alleged misconduct; and misrepresentation or concealment of a material fact in connection with an agency investigation. According to the agency, they provided false information in response to the agency's inquiry. Roberts stated that he did not remember building a fish pond, and Barrett stated that he only worked on the fish pond on his own time. The agency demoted both and suspended them for 30 days. In an initial decision, an AJ sustained all charges and upheld the penalties. With respect to the falsification charge, the AJ found that Barrett and Roberts stated in response to agency questionnaires that they knew nothing of the events in question. Based on the testimony of others, the AJ found by a preponderance of the evidence that Barrett and Roberts were at their supervisor's house during the time in question and therefore that their statements to the contrary were false. 22 Barrett and Roberts petitioned for review by the full board, which vacated and remanded the AJ's initial decision. On remand, the AJ upheld the agency's action, and Barrett and Roberts again petitioned for review by the full board. Based on its decision in Walsh, the board reversed the holdings of falsification and of failing to report an act of fraud, waste, and abuse. According to the board, requiring Barrett and Roberts to report their supervisor's alleged misconduct would have necessitated implicating themselves in the misconduct of filing a false time and attendance report, and such self-implication was contrary to its holding in Walsh. The false time and attendance report charges were sustained; they are not before us in this appeal. The board also mitigated the penalties to letters of reprimand.