Court Opinion

ID: 9474391
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:56:06.828977+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:03.443893
License: Public Domain

EDWARD S. SMITH, Circuit Judge.
In this Government employee case, the Merit Systems Protection Board (board) sustained the Department of the Treasury’s (agency) decision to remove George F. Metz (Metz) from his position as an instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). In sustaining *1002Metz’ removal for threatening to kill his superiors, the board reversed the initial decision of its presiding official, which decision substituted a suspension for the agency’s removal. We reverse.

Issues

We address two issues on appeal. First, we decide if the board used the correct legal standard to decide whether Metz’ statements were threats. Second, we determine whether the board had substantial evidence to find that Metz threatened his supervisors, given the applicable legal standard.
Background1
James Lanier (Lanier) supervised Metz in the driver specialties branch of FLETC. On July 7,1982, Lanier gave Metz an annual performance rating of “excellent.” Metz became upset because he believed he deserved an “outstanding” rating and stated that he would harm himself and others. On July 12, Metz met with Lanier and confirmed his earlier statement. Lanier directed his supervisor’s attention to the statements. Lanier’s superiors decided to meet with Metz in order to alleviate Metz’ frustrations. David Epstein (Epstein) scheduled a meeting with Robert McKann (McKann), Lanier, and Metz. Epstein asked Metz to affirm the earlier statements and Metz did so, but the question and the answer were both quite vague. Additionally, two of Metz’ co-workers reported conversations with Metz in which Metz had stated threats to kill his superiors.
The agency subsequently removed Metz for threatening his superiors and for disruptive behavior. The presiding official found Metz innocent of making threatening statements and reversed the removal. The presiding official, however, found that Metz made inappropriate remarks that caused minor disruption and imposed a suspension. The full board reversed the presiding official’s initial decision and sustained the removal.

Opinion

A. Legal Standards
This court reviews board decisions for errors of law. In this case, we decide whether the board applied the proper legal test to determine if Metz actually threatened his superiors. We outline a method to analyze the evidence in order to effect the legal standard given by our cases. Although the board recited the proper legal standard, its analysis of the evidence was insufficient. We conclude that clear guidelines for analyzing evidence in this type of case will assist the board in reaching legally correct results.
Any threat made to a Government supervisor is a serious matter that clearly impairs the efficiency of the service. In some cases, however, it is difficult for the agency to determine if a threat has been made. This court has held that the board must use “the connotation which a reasonable person would give to the words”2 in order to determine if the words constituted a threat.
In order to apply the reasonable person standard, however, the board must weigh the evidence. We direct the board to consider the following evidentiary factors in deciding whether an employee threatened his supervisors or co-workers:
(1) The listener’s reactions;
(2) The listener’s apprehension of harm;
(3) The speaker’s intent;
(4) Any conditional nature of the statements; and
(5) The attendant circumstances.
The United States Supreme Court provided the basis for these standards by writing “the statute initially requires the Government to prove a true ‘threat.’ ”3 This standard applies to Government agency regulations as well as the statute con*1003strued in Watts. Our guidelines effect the appropriate standard by directing the board to give objective evidence heavy weight. The standards direct the board to apply the reasonable person criterion by considering what reasonable persons who heard the statements actually did. For instance, a listener who reacted by calling police after hearing a statement is more likely to have heard a threat than a listener who did nothing. Likewise, an employee who made a generalized conditional statement is less likely to have intended to threaten a coworker than an employee who stated a simple threal.4 We do not instruct the board to rely on objective evidence alone. A credible supervisor might testify that he feared harm; such testimony tends to show that an employee made a threal. Evidence of an employee’s intent in making a statement can show that the statement was a threal. Rumors, however, or fear based on rumors, cannot suffice to prove that an employee threatened anyone. While we do not instruct the board to disregard subjective evidence of fear or intent, we do direct the board to give objective evidence heavy weight.5
B. Substantial Evidence
We now decide whether the board’s decision was supported by substantial evidence. The board’s decision states, “the employees who heard the statements were concerned and reported the statements to the agency.” 6 We examine this evidence in detail.
Two employees, Olsen and Barton, allegedly heard Metz make remarks that threatened his superiors. How did Olsen and Barton react to these “threats”? Olsen went camping in North Carolina for a week and Barton went to work. It is literally true that Olsen and Barton were “concerned”; both Olsen and Barton stated concern in their testimony before the presiding official. However, both Olsen and Barton also testified that they did not expect Metz to carry out the “threats.” How did the agency find out about the conversations between Metz and Olsen and Barton? Barton happened to mention his talk with Metz in a casual conversation to a friend who was a supervisor. Later in the day, an agency official asked Barton to make a statement. Barton did find Metz’ remarks interesting enough to mention them in casual conversation, but Barton did nothing more. Olsen volunteered his conversation with Metz only after he returned from his vacation and learned that the agency intended to discipline Metz. The record does not provide a shred of evidence showing that Barton or Olsen reacted to Metz’ statements as if they were threats.
Now we consider the supervisors’ testimony. Lanier testified before the presiding official that he never feared personal harm from Metz, nor did he fear that Metz would attack any other FLETC official. Epstein testified that Metz tacitly admitted making threats, but Epstein also stated that he never heard Metz make a threal. Both of these gentlemen testified that their primary concern was to relieve Metz’ frustration. Only McKann testified that Metz threatened Epstein and McKann in their meeting with Lanier and Metz. The presiding official found specifically that McKann inferred a threat from actions by Metz that did not occur. The presiding official exercises wide discretion when making findings on credibility. The board may not overturn the presiding official’s credibility determinations without articulating a sound reason, based on the record.7 Therefore, the board could not properly credit McKann’s testimony in finding that Metz threatened FLETC officials.
*1004After reviewing the evidence, we observe that the board sustained Metz’ removal based on the testimony of five men. Lanier and Epstein testified they did not perceive Metz’ statements as threats; Olsen and Barton testified that they had no expectation that Metz would harm his superiors, nor did they consider his statements serious enough to warrant reporting; and McKann’s testimony was discredited by the presiding official. We conclude that the board’s decision sustaining Metz’ removal is not supported by substantial evidence and must be reversed.

Conclusion

In its decision sustaining Metz’ removal, the board decided that a reasonable person hearing Metz’ statements would think those statements were threats. While this is the correct legal standard, the board erred because it did not consider the objective evidence in the record. When the board must decide whether statements are threats, we instruct it to consider the reactions and apprehensions of listeners, the wording of the statements, the speaker’s intent, and the attendant circumstances. The board apparently did not do so in this case. Because no substantial evidence supports the board’s finding that Metz threatened his superiors, the charges that Metz threatened to kill his supervisors and behaved disruptively by threatening to kill his supervisors were not proved. We reverse the board’s decision sustaining Metz’ removal.
REVERSED.

. The board’s final decision is reported in Metz v. Department of the Treasury, Fed. Law Enforcement Training Center, 23 M.S.P.R. 576 (1984).

. Meehan v. United States Postal Serv., 718 F.2d 1069, 1075 (Fed.Cir.1983).

. Watts v. United States, 394 U.S. 705, 708, 89 S.Ct. 1399, 1401, 22 L.Ed.2d 664 (1969).

. See Broadnax v. United States Postal Serv., 9 M.S.P.B. 404, 412-13, 10 M.S.P.R. 142, 153-55 (1982).

. See Williams v. Veterans Admin., 701 F.2d 764, 765-66 (8th Cir.1983); Meehan, 718 F.2d 1069; Broadnax, 9 M.S.P.B. 404, 10 M.S.P.R. 142; Sierra v. Department of the Army, 5 M.S.P.B. 514, 5 M.S.P.R. 523 (1981) (these cases illustrate how the evidence should be considered).

. Metz, 23 M.S.P.R. at 578.

. Jackson v. Veterans Admin., 768 F.2d 1325, 1331 (Fed.Cir.1985).