Court Opinion

ID: 9472218
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:53:08.88028+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:48.655139
License: Public Domain

NIES, Circuit Judge,
with whom RICH, Circuit Judge, joins, dissenting.
I would affirm the decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board in this appeal and, accordingly, dissent from the majority’s decision to remand.
Vaughn Letenyei was removed by the agency for strike participation and being absent without leave “beginning at 1518 on August 3, 1981.” The presiding official, the board, and the majority agree that Letenyei was AWOL on August 3, 4, 5 and 6. Under the decisions issued today, particularly Adams v. Department of Transportation, FAA, 735 F.2d 488 at 492 (Fed.Cir.1984), and Campbell v. Department of Transportation, FAA, 735 F.2d 496 at 496 n. 1 (Fed.Cir.1984), Letenyei was AWOL until he telephoned the agency on August 15 requesting to return to work on August 16. Moreover, he defied a direct order to return to work beginning August 3,1981 at 1518 hours. He was also scheduled for shifts at the same time on August 4 and 5, the August 5 shift being after the Presidential deadline.
Letenyei stipulated that a strike was in effect from August 3 until at least August 6, and that he was' aware of the strike and *535understood that the strike was illegal. He was also aware that he was scheduled for work after the strike was called.
The thrust of Letenyei’s position is that his leave could not be cancelled on August 1 because there was no operational emergency on that date. The presiding official agreed, stating:
[A]t the time [the agency] cancelled appellant’s leave, no operational emergency existed; and no successful effort was made by Cleveland Center personnel to reach appellant on or after August 3 once the operational emergency was declared to again order him to report. Hence, a contract violation occurred when appellant’s leave was cancelled.
Contrary to Letenyei’s and the presiding official’s position, Letenyei’s leave was not cancelled before an operational emergency. Rather, he received notice on August 1 that his scheduled leave for August 2 was good, but that his leave on and after August 3 was cancelled as a result of the strike which had been called before August 1 to begin on August 3.1 Letenyei does not dispute that the PATCO strike beginning August 3 created an operational emergency; indeed, his counsel agreed to stipulate to that fact. Moreover, he testified:
Q. Do you contend that Mr. Shallenber-ger didn’t have the authority to cancel your leave when he called you on the first?
A. My understanding at the time was that in the case of a national emergency or an operational emergency, he did.
Q. But he only cancelled your leave as of August 3rd; correct?
A. Starting Monday, the 3rd, yes.
The board held that “the agency’s prospective cancellation of appellant’s leave in anticipation of the imminent and reasonably foreseeable operational emergency was proper, and did not constitute a violation of the applicable PATCO-FAA bargaining agreement.” (Emphasis added).
I agree with this interpretation of the contract and the board’s overturning the presiding official’s imprecise analysis that Letenyei’s leave was cancelled on August 1. The board’s view is more fully explicated in McPartland v. Department of Transportation, FAA, Docket No. DA075281F1018 (MSPB Feb. 8, 1983), the lead case before the MSPB on this issue. Accordingly, it is appropriate to consider that decision.
In McPartland, the board noted that there is no language in the agreement “which addresses the question of notice in the event of cancellation of leave.” Thus, a requirement of reasonable notice is appropriately implied. I fail to see that notice on August 3 to cancel leave August 3, which Letenyei admits would have prompted him to return, is more reasonable than notice on August 1 to report August 3. Simply stating the proposition indicates its hollowness.
Further, whatever may have been Leten-yei’s belief on August 1st and 2nd about his leave situation, his admissions establish that for the dates of August 3 to August 15, 1981, he had no reasonable basis for believing he could properly remain on leave. Letenyei does not assert that it was impossible, to return during that period. On the contrary, in his oral response he admitted that “in a national emergency [his vacation plans] could be changed.” The record establishes that he completed the major part of his move by Sunday evening, August 2, and that he remained in the area until August 11, and that because he wanted to rest after the move, he drove his family to visit relatives in Chicago for 3 or 4 days. Letenyei made his own decision on the law and now relies on his erroneous view to claim that he could not have had an intent to strike. Yet at no time did he protest the action of his supervisor, ask for the “day or two” he needed to complete *536settlement on his house, alert anyone that he would not appear for his shift, or otherwise act in any way except as a striker. Shielded by his now professed lack of support for the strike, he claims that it is no evidence of striking that he frequently “stopped” by the picket line for “no more than ten minutes” and was at the rally for the countdown to the Presidential deadline at PATCO headquarters on August 5. These are facts he admitted, not merely hearsay.
Letenyei acted with an utterly reckless disregard for his obligations to his employer and to the public. As he stated at his oral reply, he simply made the choice to continue his vacation because he did not expect people would be fired based on his experience at General Motors. There is no basis for treating him differently from other controllers whose leave was cancelled, for example, Russell S. Root. See Campbell, at 501-02. Root’s absence during previously scheduled leave was deemed striking, although he also relied on the theory that his leave was improperly can-celled. The board was, therefore, equally justified in finding that Letenyei was on strike. His actions were more significant than his late declaration that he was not a striker. No direct evidence that he intended to strike is likely to be obtainable. Thus, the MSPB correctly looked to Leten-yei's admitted availability; his admitted intentional withholding of services after a national emergency; his admitted stops at the picket line “a lot of times to find out what was happening;” and his admitted attendance at the PATCO countdown rally to the 11:00 o’clock deadline on August 5, 1981. His explanation that he “stayed only about five minutes” does not negate his admission to the hearing officer on August 28, 1981, that he attended. That was the evidence the agency relied on in effecting dismissal, and I would hold that it is substantial evidence of strike participation. Thus, under 5 U.S.C. § 7703(c), the agency's action cannot be held unlawful and set aside for failure of proof. The majority has simply failed to consider the whole record.
Our decision in Schapansky v. Department of Transportation, FAA, 735 F.2d 477 (Fed.Cir.1984), allocates the burden of going forward with evidence in such a way that Letenyei would be required to present evidence in his defense had the agency introduced only enough evidence to establish a prima facie case, that is, proof of a widespread strike of general knowledge, together with proof of absence without authorization or explanation to the agency. Letenyei’s evidence to rebut strike participation was his testimony that he went ahead with his moving and vacation plans. That might rebut a mere prima facie case, which the majority apparently considers the agency’s case here to be. What the majority fails to recognize is that the remainder of the government’s evidence amply supports the board’s conclusion that Letenyei did indeed refuse his services in concert with others.
The Blount case, cited by the majority both here and by the unanimous panel in Schapansky, notes that “ ‘Strike’ is a term of ... common usage.” 325 F.2d at 884. Accordingly, in this case, the evidence recited above (in this dissent) substantially supports the agency’s removal based on striking. Since it has not been taken into account in the majority’s decision to remand, presumably the board is not excluded from relying on it in its decision on remand, perhaps stressing this evidence more than in its original opinion.
On remand, which the majority mandates, the agency should be permitted to show that removal was justified based solely on Letenyei’s AWOL from August 3 to August 15 during a national emergency whether or not he was also a striker. A first offense of unauthorized absence of more than five consecutive scheduled workdays carries a penalty of from 5 days’ suspension to removal. The presiding official limited the agency to proof up to August 6 despite the notice in which he was charged with striking and AWOL “beginning August 3.” While a longer period of time than 7 days would have been necessary for reply had the agency relied only *537on AWOL as the basis for removal, the reasonable belief of a crime, i.e., striking, justified a shortened notice period. On the other hand, all charges need not be sustained in order to uphold removal action. A lengthy AWOL, or a short AWOL coupled with insubordination in failing to obey a direct order, is entirely sufficient. Indeed, this court has upheld removal based on as little as 4 hours AWOL in Villela v. Department of the Air Force, 727 F.2d 1574 (Fed.Cir.1984).

. PATCO National President Robert E. Poli had announced at a press conference several days before August 1 that "... the strike will begin on the day shift of Monday, August the 3rd.” (See MSPB Letenyei decision, n. 5).