James F. Weiss v. United States Postal Service, Merit Systems Protection Board, Intervenor

COFFIN, Chief Judge.

Charging that plaintiff had been AWOL on three occasions and citing five past disci plinary actions in plaintiff’s record, the United States Postal Service proposed to discharge plaintiff. On plaintiff’s administrative appeal, the presiding official of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) found plaintiff had been AWOL on the three specified dates, but, applying a preponderance of the evidence standard, concluded the Postal Service had failed to prove removal was an appropriate penalty and reduced the penalty to a fourteen day suspension. The Postal Service appealed to…