Baum v. Zuckert, 15880.
| Decision Date | 09 March 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 15880.,15880. |
| Citation | 342 F.2d 145 |
| Parties | William E. BAUM, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Eugene M. ZUCKERT, Secretary of the Air Force, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Richard H. Kremer, Memphis, Tenn. (Rosenfield, Borod, Fones & Bogatin, Memphis, Tenn., on the brief), for appellant.
Robert V. Zener, Atty., Civ. Div. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C. (John W. Douglas, Asst. Atty. Gen., Morton Hollander, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C. Thomas L. Robinson, U. S. Atty., Memphis, Tenn., on the brief), for appellees.
Before WEICK, Chief Judge, PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge, and ARTHUR M. SMITH, Judge.1
Plaintiff sued the Secretary of the Air Force and the members of the United States Civil Service Commission, seeking reinstatement to a civil service position with the Air Force. He asserts that his discharge from this position was arbitrary, capricious and in violation of applicable statutes and regulations.
The Civil Service Commission upheld the discharge of plaintiff. The district court affirmed.
Plaintiff, a veteran with previous experience in the armed forces, was employed by the Air Force as an aircraft hydraulic systems mechanic. One of the conditions of his employment, made known to him at the time he accepted the position, was that he must maintain active membership in the local air force reserve unit.2
The record in this case shows that the purpose of the air force reserve technician program is to provide the active air force reserve units, which are composed chiefly of personnel who train only a few days each month and two weeks in the summer, with a core of more highly trained personnel whose fulltime civilian jobs coincide with their military jobs. This is the reason for the requirement that plaintiff was to maintain his status as an active member of the local air force reserve training unit, and that if he failed to do so "for reasons within his control" he would be considered to have failed to have met a condition of appointment, thereby requiring separation from his civilian position.
The examiner for the Civil Service Commission found that plaintiff was ordered, along with other members of his reserve unit, to take immunization shots on a certain day, and that he refused to do so because he was planning to do some work that night in connection with a college course he was taking and shots in the past had affected him. He told his commanding officer in a "belligerent and hostile manner" that he refused to take the shots that day, but would take them two weeks later. The commanding officer then asked plaintiff if he realized that he was disobeying an order, and plaintiff retorted that he did so realize, and that as far as he was concerned the commanding officer could give him his thirty-day notice. Plaintiff thereupon was reassigned to the inactive reserve.
The trial examiner made the following finding:
The function of a reviewing court in cases involving the discharge of civil service employees is a limited one. Powell v. Brannan, 91 U.S.App.D.C. 16, 196 F.2d 871, 873. The judicial function is to determine whether there has been substantial compliance with applicable procedures and statutes, and not...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Gilbert v. Johnson, Civ. A. No. 16424.
...substantive review of the justification for the decision. See McTiernan v. Gronouski, 337 F.2d 31, 34 (2d Cir. 1964); Baum v. Zuckert, 342 F.2d 145, 147 (6th Cir. 1965); McEachern v. United States, 321 F.2d 31, 33 (4th Cir. 1953). The general refusal of the courts to review the merits of pe......
-
Baskin v. Tennessee Valley Authority
...Keim v. United States, 177 U.S. 290, 20 S.Ct. 574, 44 L.Ed. 774 (1900); Fass v. Ruegg, 379 F.2d 216 (6th Cir. 1967); Baum v. Zuckert, 342 F.2d 145 (6th Cir. 1965); Dozier v. United States, 473 F.2d 866 (5th Cir. 1973); Chiriaco v. United States, 339 F.2d 588 (5th Cir. 1964); Ellithorpe v. T......
-
Charlton v. United States
...to review the administrative determination as to the wisdom or good judgment of the agency in exercising discretion.\' Baum v. Zuckert, 342 F.2d 145, 147 (6 Cir. 1965). See also Hargett v. Summerfield, 100 U.S.App.D.C. 85, 243 F.2d 29 (1957); Hofflund v. Seaton, 105 U.S.App.D.C. 171, 265 F.......
-
American Federation of Government Emp. v. Hoffman
...ability to fulfill their combat mission is not unreasonable. We therefore agree with the Sixth Circuit's conclusion in Baum v. Zuckert, 342 F.2d 145 (6th Cir. 1965), that the reserve membership requirement satisfies the statutory standard of promoting the efficiency of the civil service. Ap......