Munnelly v. U.S. Postal Service
| Decision Date | 12 November 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-2138,85-2138 |
| Citation | 805 F.2d 295 |
| Parties | John P. MUNNELLY, Appellant, v. The UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, a Public Corporation; William P. Bolger, Individually and as Postmaster General of the United States; Thomas F. Ranft, Individually and as Regional Director of Mail Processing Department, Central Regional Office, United States Postal Service, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
M.J. Bruckner, Lincoln, Neb., for appellant.
R. Andrew German, Washington, D.C., for appellees.
Before McMILLIAN, JOHN R. GIBSON and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges.
John P. Munnelly appeals from a judgment of the district court 1 denying him reinstatement to his former position of Sectional Center Manager, Postmaster at Omaha, Nebraska. The Post Office Department discharged Munnelly, who had been appointed by the President in 1963 as Postmaster at Omaha, and later became SCM/Postmaster of the Omaha Post Office in a reorganization of the United States Postal Service. Munnelly had entered a nolo contendere plea to three charges brought by the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission for receiving reimbursement for long distance telephone calls for personal use. He was ordered to pay $1,000 in civil penalties for each of three violations and to make restitution to the State of Nebraska. The Postal Service discharged Munnelly and after exhausting his administrative remedies by obtaining review to no avail from a regional official and then from the Postmaster General, he brought this action in the district court. On appeal he argues as he did in the district court that as a presidential appointee he could be removed only by impeachment, that the discharge for off-duty conduct was arbitrary and capricious because the nolo contendere plea could not have been used as a basis for a finding of misconduct, and that several procedural flaws deprived him of due process. We affirm the judgment of the district court.
Munnelly was appointed Postmaster at Omaha by President John F. Kennedy on June 19, 1963. In 1972, following the reorganization of the Postal Service, his duties were expanded to include that of Sectional Center Manager over 127 post offices and postmasters in Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska. In June 1982, his duties were further expanded to include 250 such post offices and postmasters.
The Postal Service brought charges against Munnelly on July 7, 1982, seeking his removal based on a nolo contendere plea to an action of the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission (NADC) in levying civil penalties against him and the publicity generated by the Omaha World Herald concerning this incident.
Munnelly had been a member of the Board of Directors of the Omaha Public Power District. On February 19, 1982, the NADC charged Munnelly with using a credit card for telephone calls and causing the Omaha Public Power District to pay for the long distance calls for other than district business and for personal financial gain. Further, he was charged with using district funds for personal financial gain by failing to properly account for travel expenses. 2 Munnelly pleaded nolo contendere to these charges. He was ordered to pay the maximum civil penalty of $1,000 for each violation, and to make restitution to the State of Nebraska. The findings of violations and the penalty imposed were given front-page coverage in the Omaha World Herald and Munnelly was identified as the Omaha Postmaster.
Munnelly was issued a Notice of Proposed Removal from the Postal Service by Robert Bates, the District Manager of the Mid-America Division. The charges, penalties, and press coverage were cited together with the charge that his misconduct was incompatible with his position and prejudicial to the interest of the Postal Service. His conduct was claimed to be inconsistent with the Postal Service's Employee and Labor Relations Manual. 3 The notice informed Munnelly that Thomas K. Ranft, Regional Director of Mail Processing for the Central Region, Chicago, Illinois, would render a decision. Munnelly answered the charges in writing, did not deny them, and did not object to Ranft serving as the deciding official. On August 10, 1982, Ranft issued the letter of decision finding that the charges were supported by the evidence and warranted removal. This decision was appealed to the then Regional Postmaster General, Central Division, Paul W. Carlin. Munnelly advised Carlin that no hearing was necessary and that he did not object to Carlin being the Step I official. After reviewing the record, Carlin issued his decision letter concluding that the charges were supported by the evidence and warranted removal. This decision was appealed to the Postmaster General, and thereafter Nancy L. George, Assistant Postmaster General, Employee Relations Department, reviewed the decision and affirmed the removal.
Munnelly then filed this action seeking reinstatement, and a temporary restraining order was issued. During discovery Munnelly developed that there was a meeting in May or June, 1982, attended by Carlin and other officials and possibly Ranft. Munnelly claims that this meeting was contrary to Postal Service regulations. At trial, Munnelly raised the question of the authority of the Postal Service to remove a presidential appointee, as well as the propriety of his removal based on a nolo contendere plea to the civil charges and the procedural violations. The district court entered its order sustaining the discharge.
On this appeal Munnelly raises the same three issues decided against him by the district court, namely, that the presidential appointment renders the action of the service contrary to Articles I and II of the Constitution, that the grounds for removal were arbitrary and capricious, and that procedural flaws infected his removal.
Munnelly argues that he, as a presidential appointee with the advice and consent of the Senate, cannot be removed by the Postal Service but rather must be removed by the President or impeached and convicted pursuant to Article I of the Constitution. In support of this position, he cites Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52, 47 S.Ct. 21, 71 L.Ed. 160 (1926). He further argues that the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, Pub.L. No. 91-375, 84 Stat. 719 (1970), did not alter his status as a presidential appointee and did not give the Postal Service the authority to remove him.
We are satisfied that the district court correctly held that the Postal Reorganization Act eliminated Munnelly's presidentially appointed position and established a new system under which Munnelly was employed by the Postal Service as a postmaster. He thus was subject to discipline and removal by the Postal Service pursuant to 39 U.S.C. Sec. 1001(e)(2), (3) (1982).
In Myers v. United States, the Supreme Court invalidated a statute requiring Senate consent to presidential removal of postmasters whom the President originally appointed with the Senate's advice and consent. 272 U.S. at 176, 47 S.Ct at 45. However, the Court has long recognized that subsequent congressional legislation may modify the terms of a presidential appointment. See Crenshaw v. United States, 134 U.S. 99, 108-09, 10 S.Ct. 431, 434, 33 L.Ed. 825 (1890) (); cf. Head v. The University, 86 U.S. (19 Wall.) 526, 530-31, 22 L.Ed. 160 (1873) (). The Court has also held that Congress has the authority to discontinue a post office where the effect of the discontinuance is to discharge a presidentially appointed postmaster. Ware v. United States, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 617, 633-34, 18 L.Ed. 389 (1867).
The Postal Service has the authority:
(2) to hire, promote, transfer, assign, and retain officers and employees in positions within the Postal Service, and to suspend, demote, discharge, or take other disciplinary action against such officers and employees;
(3) to relieve officers and employees from duties because of lack of work or for other legitimate reasons;
* * *
* * *
39 U.S.C. Sec. 1001(e)(2), (3).
Congress has provided that personnel decisions be free from political influence and considerations. 39 U.S.C. Sec. 1002(a)-(e). The Postal Reorganization Act specifically addressed the issue of the status of persons employed by the Postal Service prior to its reorganization as follows:
Officers and employees of the Post Office Department shall become officers and employees of the United States Postal Service * * * The provisions of this section shall not apply to persons occupying the positions of Postmaster General, Assistant Postmasters General, General Counsel, or Judicial Officer. This section shall not be construed, however, to prohibit the appointment of such persons to positions in the Postal Service.
Postal Reorganization Act Sec. 8, 84 Stat. at 783.
Thus, postmasters and other employees of the abolished Post Office Department became employees of its successor organization, the United States Postal Service, and became subject to direction, discipline, and removal by the Postal Service as provided in 39 U.S.C. Sec. 1001(e). Congress had the authority to change the terms and conditions of Munnelly's presidential appointment. Crenshaw, 134 U.S. at 109, 10 S.Ct. at 434. We hold that Congress did so, eliminating Munnelly's former position and establishing a new system under which he was employed by the Postal Service.
Since Congress gave the Postal Service the authority to discharge Munnelly, "it was lawful for the [Postal Service] to exercise it, notwithstanding the postmaster had been appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." Ware, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) at 633. We affirm the district court's conclusion. 4
Munnelly argues that his nolo...
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