Federal Circuit Vacates Arbitrator’s Decision Removing Federal Employee From Position, Remands for Further Review

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an arbitrator’s final decision upholding the petitioner’s removal from a position with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, finding that the arbitrator failed to conduct an independent analysis to determine if alternative sanctions, other than removal, were appropriate.

The petitioner, Jacquana Williams, was employed by the BOP as a correctional officer at a Texas federal correctional complex. She had a relationship with a former prisoner who she was aware had been incarcerated but did not know had been in federal custody. The two became engaged and had a child. The BOP placed Williams on administrative leave and conducted an internal investigation, after which it determined that she had engaged in improper contact with a former inmate and did not timely report the contact. After she was removed from her position, Williams challenged the removal with an arbitrator per the established grievance procedure. The arbitrator sustained the improper contact charge, rejected the failure-to-timely-report charge, and upheld the penalty of removal.

The court of appeals vacated the arbitrator’s ruling, concluding that because the arbitrator did not sustain all of the BOP’s charges, he was required to independently determine the maximum reasonable penalty to be imposed on Williams. The court then found the arbitrator failed to conduct the required independent analysis, vacated the decision of removal, and remanded the matter with direction to the arbitrator to “pay close attention to the adequacy of lesser sanctions.”

Williams v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, No. 22-1575 (Fed. Cir. July 6, 2023).