UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD
WASHINGTON, D.C. REGIONAL OFFICE

APPELLANT'S REQUESTS FOR ADMISSIONS

Appellant, through his attorney, Michael J. Snider, Esq., requests that you admit to the following facts pursuant to 5 C.F.R. § 1201.72.  If you deny any one of the following, you are to state with particularity the basis for said denial and to attach to your denial supporting documentation.  You are required to fully respond to these Requsts no later than twenty (20) calendar days after receipt of these interrogatories, to the undersigned at 100 Church LaneBaltimoreMaryland 21208.  The Instructions and Definitions found in Appellant’s Interrogatories apply here.

REQUESTS FOR ADMISSIONS

1. On September 22, 2002, you (Ventris Gibson) reassigned Mr. Client to your office to work directly for you.

2. You did not notify Mr. Client that you had reassigned him.

3. You did not provide a copy of the SF-50 reassignment action to Mr. Client.

4. In response to his request dated December 11, 2002, for a copy of his current position description (PD), you provided a copy of PD # 29434A to Mr. Client as an enclosure to your letter dated December 19, 2002.

5. PD# 29434A is not current.

6. PD #29434A is not accurate.

7. PD # 29434A describes a position with the obsolete title of Personnel Management Specialist assigned in the Customer Advisory and Consulting Group (CACG).

8. You abolished the position of Personnel Management Specialist assigned in the Customer Advisory and Consulting Group (CACG) in a recent reorganization.

9. PD #29434A states, under the factor of Supervisory controls, that the incumbent reports to the Director, CACG.

10.PD# 29434A is misclassified as to title.

11. PD #29434A is misclassified as to grade level.

12.There is no evaluation report attached to the PD.

13. Assignment of Mr. Client to a position/PD known to be misclassified and overgraded deprived him of his RIF placement rights to a continuing GS-15 position.

14.You held a “Town Hall Meeting” in December, 2000 of all OHRM employees.

15.At that meeting, you introduced Mr. Client as the designated Associate Director for Compensation and Classification (ADCC).

16.At that meeting, you told the staff, publicly, that upon his return from his NAHFE IPA assignment, Mr. Client would be officially assuming the duties of the position of designated Associate Director for Compensation and Classification (ADCC).

17.Present at that “Town Hall Meeting” were the following employees: George Williams, Robert Clayton, Dennis Curley, Gary King, Alan Beale, Joan Cooper, Bill Ellison, Deborah Allen, Richard Davis, Iris Gresham, Jim Halliday, Mary Jackson, Donna Schroeder, Bill Soults, Bruce Ducharme, Katie McCullough, Kent Cseplo, Elizabeth Lanier, Elodie Murray, Mike McAree, Chuck McClellan, Jan Stanley, Martha Taylor, Carol Mellen, Larry Ables, Bob MacDonald, John Murray, Joyce Mitchell, Angela Missouri, Blanco (Skip) High, Cynthia Leach, Marianne Gray, David Will, Kenneth Shamburger, Conni Nyers, and Jean Hayes.

18.This list is representative of those OHRM employees in attendance, but is not all inclusive.

19.Following the Town Hall Meeting, you asked Mr. Client to meet with his assigned staff.

20.Mr. Client did meet with his assigned staff.

21.In the capacity of Acting ADCC, Mr. Client conferred on several other occasions in person, via e-mail and by telephone with his assigned staff on current issues and program plans.

22.In mid-March, 2002, when Mr. Client informed you by telephone and e-mail of his pending return to OHRM on June 1, 2002, you did not tell him that you had decided to permanently promote Mr. Alan Beale into the position of Associate Director for Compensation and Classification (ADCC).

23. The position you permanently promoted Mr. Beale into was the very same position that you had announced publicly that Mr. Client would be returning to in the December 2000 Town hall Meeting.

24.By publicly announcing his reassignment to the ADCC position you made it clear that Mr. Client did not need to compete for the temporary promotion to that position.

25. You did not afford Mr. Client an opportunity to compete for that position.

26.You did not inform Mr. Client that the position was posted for competition.

27.You did not inform Mr. Client in advance of your decision to promote Mr. Beale permanently into the position that you had promised to Mr. Client.

28.Restriction of competition constitutes a prohibited personnel practice.

29.You asked Mr. Client to develop the PD for director, Human Resources Management Program Assessment.

30.Mr. Client submitted to you the PD for director, Human Resources Management Program Assessment on July 9, 2002.

31.You have not graded the PD for director, Human Resources Management Program Assessment.

32.You have not classified the PD for director, Human Resources Management Program Assessment.

33.You have not reassigned Mr. Client into the PD for director, Human Resources Management Program Assessment.

34.You have not detailed Mr. Client into the PD for director, Human Resources Management Program Assessment.

35.You have not provided any official paperwork (e.g., form SF-50, etc.) to Mr. Client to show that Mr. Client was returned to a GS-15 continuing position at VACO in June, 2002, following his NAHFE IPA.

36.You have not provided Mr. Client with any official documentation for the “detail” you claim he is on to your office since June 1, 2002.

37.You have not provided Mr. Client with performance standards for that detail since June 1, 2002.

38.You have not provided Mr. Client with performance standards for his permanent position of record, since June 1, 2002.

39.You have not provided Mr. Client with a performance appraisal since June 2000.

40.President Oliverez of NAHFE submitted to you interim performance appraisals for the period June 2000-June 2002.

41.President Oliverez of NAHFE submitted to you final performance appraisals for the period June 2000-June 2002.

42.You did not provide Mr. Client a copy of the interim performance appraisals submitted to you by President Oliverez of NAHFE.

43.You did not provide Mr. Client a copy of the final performance appraisals submitted to you by President Oliverez of NAHFE.

44.You have not considered Mr. Client for awards or bonuses based on his NAHFE performance appraisals.

45.Mr. Client returned to duty at DVA from his 2 year Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignment with the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives (NAHFE) on June 1, 2002.

46.Since June 1, 2002, you have not taken any action to reassign Mr. Client to the position of Director for Human Resources Management Program Assessment, GS-201-15, which you had him develop in July 2002.

47.Mr. Client has never refused to complete any work assignment.

48.Mr. Client has completed all work assignments you have given him in an exemplary manner.

49. Mr. Client has completed all work assignments you have given him within the policy guidelines and timeframes assigned.

50.Mr. Client volunteered in Fall 2002 to take responsibility for completing the classification review of all DVA SES positions.

51.Mr. Client volunteered to, and did in fact, develop within two weeks new PDs and evaluation reports for Human Resources Specialist Career Intern positions in grades GS-5 through GS-11.

52.Mr. Client volunteered to take on additional work in an E-mail to you dated October 15, 2002.

53.Mr. Client submitted medical documentation in support of his request for sick leave to you on November 12, 2002, following his office visit that same day with Dr. Mueller.

54.You waited fourteen (14) calendar days, until 3:00 PM on November 27, 2002, to inform Mr. Client by telephone of your intention to charge him with AWOL for the entire leave period from November 18, 2002, through November 29, 2002, the leave period supported by the medical certificate he submitted to you on November 12, 2002.

55.Mr. Client submitted another medical certificate from Dr. Mueller to you on November 27, 2002, prior to close of business, in support of his sick leave request for the pay period November 18 through November 29, 2002.

56.You did not address the additional medical information in Mr. Client’s November 27, 2002, medical certificate in your refusal to grant his sick leave request.

57.You have not spoken with or corresponded with Dr. Mueller regarding his medical evaluation of Mr. Client.

58.You could have sent Mr. Client to an Agency physician for an examination.

59.You have not sent Mr. Client to an Agency physician for an examination.

60.In your e-mail letter to Mr. Client dated August 14, 2002, you stated in regard to his assignment to develop an accountability program/system for the department, that he had submitted a voluminous amount of work that you did not have time to review.

61.You stated in the 8/14/02 email that you had no more accountability work to assign him at that time.

62.You stated in the 8/14/02 email that you were placing him on sick leave.

63.Mr. Client had not requested sick leave for that period of time.

64.Your placing him on sick leave was an unannounced furlough.

65.You kept Mr. Client in involuntary sick leave status, against his will, for 7 consecutive workdays.

66.Placement of an employee in AWOL or other involuntary leave for more than 14 consecutive days constitutes a “constructive suspension.”

67.Mr. Client has and routinely makes use of a state-of-the art 2.2 GHZ computer with DVD and CD burners and a 120GB hard drive, an 18” LCD monitor, a laser jet printer, a scanner, a videoconferencing camera, two inkjet printers, a Fax machine, a teleconferencing speakerphone, an intercom, and/or special halogen and other lighting in his home office.

68.Allowing Mr. Client to work at home would not have presented an “undue hardship” to the Agency.

69.Mr. Client requested the name, title and address of a VA Orthopedic Surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle surgery from Ms. Gibson.

70. Mr. Client requested the name, title and address of a VA Orthopedic Surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle surgery from Ms. Gibson so that he could provide to that person the medical documentation requested in Gibson’s letter of December 4, 2002.

71.Ms. Gibson never provided Mr. Client the name, title and address of a VA Orthopedic Surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle surgery.

72.You provided reasonable accommodation for Mr. Client to work at home from July 5, 2002, through October 25, 2002.

73.This reasonable accommodation was for Mr. Client’s physical disability.

74.This reasonable accommodation presented no “undue hardship” to the Agency.

75.This reasonable accommodation was effective.

76.The Agency has a TeleWork program in effect.

77.The Telework program was in effect at least since January 2002.

78.Telework is a form of flexiplace.

79.One form of telework is work at home.

80.Work at home is a form of reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

81.Telework is not limited to any particular occupations and/or grade levels.

82.“Virtual Staff” are employees who work at home.

83.Virtual Staff utilize the Telework program for their entire tour of duty.

84.The Agency employs Virtual Staff.

85.There are cost savings associated with the employment of “virtual staff.”

86. You are currently recruiting for additional “virtual employees?”

87. Ventris Gibson served on an interagency panel on telework.

Respectfully Submitted,
Michael J. Snider, Esq.
Attorney for Complainant