TOPICS
TOPICS
Tripped up
The Defense Department reimburses employees working outside the United States for only one personal trip each year, even if it is cut short because of a family emergency, the Board of Contract Appeals ruled.
On April 11, 2001, Defense agreed to pay vacation travel expenses to Germany for Joe Masters, a principal at one of the department's schools in Guam, and his family. Masters left for Germany in September, but had to turn around while en route because of a family emergency. Several months later, he purchased another plane ticket to Germany with his own money.
Defense later refused to reimburse him for the second ticket because federal regulations allow federal workers stationed abroad to take only one personal trip each year on government money.
In a March 21 decision, the Board of Contract Appeals upheld Defense's decision. The board cited Chapter 4, Section 5728(a) of the United States Code, which requires agencies to pay the round-trip travel expenses of workers stationed abroad and their immediate family members once a year, but does not make any exceptions for family emergencies.
Joe E. Masters v. Air Force, General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals (15908-TRAV), March 21, 2003
Caught in the Act
A Postal Service employee could be fired because she refused to quit her job while running for political office, according to the Office of Special Counsel.
In July 2002, Glenda Payne Eudy, a mail distribution clerk in Charlotte, North Carolina, announced that she was running for a seat in the state legislature. The Postal Service informed her that the 1887 Hatch Act required her to either quit her job immediately or withdraw from the election. The Hatch Act restricts the political activities of federal employees and some state and local workers who deal with federally funded programs. Agencies can fire workers who violate the act, or can place them on a 30-day suspension.
But Eudy did not quit her job and placed her name on the Sept. 10 primary ballot for North Carolina's 109th district.
OSC on Monday filed a petition for disciplinary action against Eudy with the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Office of Special Counsel case, March 31, 2003
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