The Merit Systems Protection Board recently split over
whether a preference-eligible veteran in the excepted
service could appeal his removal as a contract specialist
for unsatisfactory “performance and conduct” because it
could not agree whether the employee was in the same or
similar service for a continuous period of one year before
removal.
The case arose when the Department of the Air Force removed
the contract specialist serving under a Veterans
Readjustment Act appointment after eight months of service.
The specialist had previously served for ten months with
the Defense Logistics Agency immediately preceding his
service with the Air Force. A preference-eligible veteran
in the excepted service is considered an “employee”
possessing appeal rights if the veteran had served
continuously in the same or similar service for one year
before removal.
The Board could not agree whether the specialist’s service
with the Air Force could be added to his service with the
DLA to create a time period long enough to establish his
right to appeal his removal, thus making him an “employee”
with appeal rights. The Board split over the necessity to
remand the case to a regional office to determine whether
the specialist’s roles in the Air Force and the DLA were
the same or similar, thus allowing the two employment
periods to be added together.
The full text of the decision can be found here:
