Williams v. United States
| Decision Date | 31 July 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 15-1059C,15-1059C |
| Parties | CHRISTOPHER J. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Claims Court |
Summary Judgment; Breach of Contract; Settlement Agreement
John R. Folkerth, Folkerth + Routh LLC, Dayton, OH, for plaintiff.1
Alison S. Vicks, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendant. With her were Loren M. Preheim, Senior Trial Counsel, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, Robert E. Kirschman, Jr., Director, Reginald T. Blades, Assistant Director, and Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice.
On September 9, 2015, plaintiff Christopher J. Williams filed a complaint in the United States Court of Federal Claims alleging breach of contract against the United States arising from a settlement agreement entered into on June 3, 2014, between the plaintiff and the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (the Settlement Agreement). Plaintiff seeks "damages in an amount not yet fully ascertained, but estimated to be $1,000,000, to include back pay, front pay, pre-judgment interest, interest, cost herein expended, and such other relief as the Court finds just."
Mr. Williams was employed as a police officer with the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DVAMC) from September 23, 2001 until August 9, 2013, when he was removed from his position based on allegations of "Inappropriate Conduct towards Staff,"and "Conduct Unbecoming a Federal Employee."2 (capitalization in original). According to plaintiff's complaint, Mr. Williams had "maintained an exemplary performance record consistently receiving 'Exceptional' performance ratings, and no disciplinary action," up until the time of his removal. According to the parties' statement of undisputed material facts, Mr. Williams appealed his removal to the Merit System Protection Board (MSPB). On June 3, 2014, plaintiff and the DVAMC entered into the Settlement Agreement.
The Settlement Agreement provided that Mr. Williams' "August 9, 2013, removal for 'Inappropriate Conduct Toward Staff' and 'Conduct Unbecoming a Federal Employee' shall be rescinded." The Settlement Agreement, signed by Mr. Williams and by Mr. Glen A. Costie, as "Medical Center Director," on behalf of the DVAMC on June 3, 2014, provided that "[t]he Agency shall process a Standard Form 50[3] and a Standard Form 52; (1) rescinding Appellant's [Mr. Williams'] removal and (2) restoring him to the position of Police Officer, Police Service, Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center retroactive to August 9, 2013." In addition, the Settlement Agreement stated that "[t]he Parties agree that any, and all, documents of, and concerning, the Appellant's Notice of Proposed Removal and Removal Decision shall be removed from all files electronic, or otherwise, under the control of Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center." In the words of the Settlement Agreement, Mr. Williams was to be reinstated as a DVAMC employee on leave without pay status until June 30, 2016. According to the plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment, plaintiff's "entire motivation for entering into the Settlement Agreement was so that he could pursue his career as a VA Police Officer." According to the Settlement Agreement, the "purpose of the LWOP [leave without pay] period . . . of this agreement is to afford him the opportunity to apply for other federal positions as a federal employee" for approximately twenty-six months. Under the Settlement Agreement, during the approximately twenty-six months period, Mr. Williams was "free, under the Department of Veterans Affairs policies and procedures, to apply for vacant positions at other Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, save for; the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical and/or any of its affiliated Community Based Out-Patient Clinics under Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center's control." Further, according to the Settlement Agreement, "should Appellant fail to obtain a position by June 30, 2016, his LWOP status shall be terminated, and he will be considered to have resigned."4 (emphasis in original).
The Settlement Agreement also provided that Mr. Williams would receive a neutral reference from the DVAMC and would be paid a lump sum of "$45,000.00 to satisfy any, and all, claims of attorney fees, back pay, benefits, compensatory damages, or lost wages."5 For purposes of the Settlement Agreement, a "'neutral reference' shall mean that the Agency shall provide the following information to a prospective employer; (1) position held, (2) dates position held, and (3) salary of position held." According to the Settlement Agreement, "[t]he Agency agrees that it will neither impede, nor interfere with the Appellant's efforts to transfer to other federal agencies including, but not limited to, the Department of Veterans Affairs," and "[t]he Agency agrees that it will neither impede, nor interfere with the Appellant's efforts to obtain employment with any employer, federal sector or otherwise." The Settlement Agreement also provided that "[t]he Parties agree that this settlement agreement, consisting of four (4) pages constitutes, constitutes [sic] the full agreement between the Parties and that there are no other agreements oral and/or written with respect to the Appellant's appeal [at the MSPB]."
On June 5, 2014, two days after the Settlement Agreement was executed, Mr. Williams applied for a police officer position at the West Palm Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. As indicated in the parties' statement of undisputed facts, Mr. Williams did not include the SF-50 form as required by the application. Based on the absence of the SF-50 form, the West Palm Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center considered the application to be incomplete and Mr. Williams was deemed not eligible for the position, resulting in the denial of his application.
In July of 2014, Mr. Williams applied for a police officer position at the Lake Nona Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Williams submitted an SF-50 with his position removal still noted on the SF-50 with his application to the Lake Nona Veterans Affairs Medical Center. According to the parties' statement of undisputed material facts, the SF-50 that Mr. Williams submitted with his application was not shown to the interviewing panel, or seen by the selecting officer, but was used by human resources personnel to determine if Mr. Williams was eligible for the position. According to the declaration of Michael Brown, a human resources specialist at the Lake Nona Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Mr. Williams "applied for several police officer positions" and "[a] review of the records shows that Mr. Williams's resume was referred (amongst several others) to the interviewing panel for one of those positions." Mr. Williams was interviewed, but was not ultimately selected, for a police officer position with the Lake Nona Veterans Affairs Medical Center. During the interview, Mr. Williams was told by the Deputy Chief of Police for the Lake Nona Veterans Affairs Medical Center "that he [the Deputy Chief] was unable to locate Mr. Williams through an Agency-wide Microsoft Outlook search or locate his [Mr. Williams'] address." (capitalization in original).
Mr. Williams alleges in his complaint that:
Mr. Williams learned that his personnel file was in an "inactive" status. On September 30, 2014, a Human Resources representative from the Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center told Mr. Williams they were questioning whether he was in fact a current employee and asked Mr. Williams the name of his supervisor. Mr. Williams responded that he was on LWOP and provided the name of the Captain at Dayton. A current email address indicates a "current" employee status required for application.
On October 1, 2014, Mr. Williams spoke with the human resources department at the DVAMC and Mr. Williams was provided with the three most recent SF-50s in his personnel file. Mr. Williams alleges that he did not receive an offer for the police officer position at the Lake Nona Veterans Affairs Medical Center because of the SF-50 that the DVAMC sent the Lake Nona Veterans Affairs Medical Center. According to plaintiff, the SF-50 that was sent to the Orlando center reflects the "Nature of Action" as a "REMOVAL," and under "Remarks," the "REASON FOR SUSPENSION : INAPPROPRIATE CONDUCT AND CONDUCT UNBECOMING A FEDERAL EMPLOYOEE [sic]." (capitalization in original). Furthermore, the SF-50 provided to Mr. Williams referenced the Settlement Agreement, and included a case number before the MSPB. Under remarks, the SF-50 stated: "MSPB SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT DOCKET NO. CH-0752-13-2514-l-1, DTD 6/3/2014." (capitalization in original).6
On October 2, 2014, Mr. Williams, through his attorney Kenneth Heisele, notified the DVAMC that Mr. Williams' SF-50 had not been corrected. On November 6, 2014, Mr. Williams called the electronic officer personnel file help desk to ensure that the information regarding his removal had been removed from his personnel file. During this conversation with the help desk, Mr. Williams alleges that he "learned that the records showed that he was no longer a federal employee and his personnel file was being transferred to the National Archives for former employees, even though the DVAMC [sic] had been reinstated by the Settlement Agreement as a current employee." The defendant asserts that a miscommunication delayed the request for Mr. Williams' files to be corrected, but that Mr. Williams' SF-50 was eventually corrected, according to the record before the court in November 2014.
Mr. Williams also applied for the position of police officer at Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Bay Pines, Florida. On November 11, 2014, he interviewed with a Captain and a police officer from Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Medical Center. As with...
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