Boyce v. United States

In this civilian pay case plaintiffs Margaret Boyce, formerly employed as a career seasonal OS-2 data transcriber, and Minnie Dixon, formerly a GS-'B file clerk, contest their dismissals from employment with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Plaintiffs seek both reinstatement and back pay. The IRS removed them from their positions because they had failed to file certain tax returns in a timely manner. We find the penalty of dismissal so disproportionate to plaintiffs’ offenses that defendant’s conduct can only be described as an abuse of discretion. Accordingly, we hold for plaintiffs.

Both…