GovernmentExecutive.com

The Office of Special Counsel has filed a petition with the Merit Systems Protection Board asking for the dismissal of Bruce Buchanan, an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in Little Rock, Ark., for violating the Hatch Act.

In December 1997, Buchanan used government equipment in his NLRB office to help Nate Coulter, a democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. Then in March 1998, Buchanan asked an employee under his supervision to write a memo for Coulter, which described the solicitation of campaign contributions from various labor union representatives, many of whom continually have applications for rulings before NLRB.

That same year Buchanan used his office phone during business hours to call a labor official and discuss whether his organization would support Coulter. Then he asked an employee he supervised to write a memo to Coulter's campaign manager. He also asked another labor union representative to support the Coulter campaign.

The Hatch Act governs federal employees' political activities. It prohibits federal employees from running for public office in partisan elections and from engaging in political activity while acting in an official capacity as a government employee. The Office of Special Counsel is charged with both preventing and prosecuting violations of the Hatch Act.

Office of Special Counsel case, Oct. 10, 2001

Doctor's note

When James Marriott began his probationary period as a letter carrier with the Postal Service in Fayetteville, N.C., in August 1997, he was taking medication to treat his bipolar disorder.

But two months later his medication was switched and he got dizzy and nauseous at work, causing him to leave and go to the hospital to see his doctor. His doctor wrote a note to his employers stating that Marriott was taking a new medicine that caused nausea and drowsiness, and as a result, Marriott did not feel safe driving, something that was required in his job. The doctor went on to ask that Marriott be given different duties.

The Postal Service assigned Marriott to a different job for one day, then told him not to report to work until he was cleared for full duty. Marriott took two weeks of sick leave and then returned to work. Two weeks later he felt a bipolar episode coming on and left work early to see his psychotherapist. When he reported to work the next day, he was declared undependable and fired.

Believing he was denied reasonable accommodation, Marriott filed an EEO complaint in March 1998. When the EEO investigation ended, Marriott requested a hearing before an EEOC administrative judge, who decided without a hearing that Marriott was not denied a reasonable accommodation because he never asked for accommodation. The Postal Service adopted the judge's decision as its final agency decision.

Marriott appealed the agency's decision to the EEOC, which ruled that the Postal Service had to let Marriott return to his job because the doctor's letter served as a request for accommodation and the Postal Service did not make "a good faith effort to reasonably accommodate complainant."

Marriott is also entitled to back pay and benefits.

James L. Marriott v. Postal Service (#01994803), July 12, 2001