Thomas Henry Carter v. United States of America

Appellant Carter brought an action • asserting that his discharge from Government service deprived him of statutory and constitutional- rights. He appeals to this court on the ground that the District Court erred when it granted judgment in favor of the Government without a trial.

The facts shown on the record before us are these. Carter was hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1960 as a clerk in its identification division. His employment with the Bureau was interrupted by his enlistment in the Air Force. After completing his military service in 1965 he was reinstated at his old job. In August 1965, the FBI received an anonymous letter complaining that Carter was “sleeping with young girls and carrying on.”1 When questioned about the matter by his supervisor, Carter admitted that a female friend had twice stayed overnight at his apartment. He admitted that they slept together, although not nude, in the same bed, but insisted that they did not have sexual relations. He told his supervisor that the lady had been visiting Washington from out of town for a period of three days, that they had been going together for several years, and that he was seriously considering marriage. On one occasion she had visited at his home in Kentucky and stayed with his brother and sister-in-law.

The supervisor separately questioned each of the three other FBI employees who shared appellant’s apartment. One did not know whether the lady had stayed overnight at their apartment. The other two knew she had. stayed overnight, but had no knowledge of what had taken place in appellant’s bedroom. When questioned, they said they had not heard any noises indicative of sexual relations. They said they had no reason to doubt the account they were told appellant had given the FBI. As one of them put it, “I consider [Carter] as a person of high quality.”

Carter was dismissed by the FBI for “conduct unbecoming an employee of this Bureau.” Through counsel he petitioned to be permitted to resign, rather than have his employment record marred by such a dismissal. The FBI, on reconsideration, adhered to its prior action. Carter sued for reinstatement and back pay, and served interrogatories. Without answering, the Government pressed a motion for summary judgment, which the District Court granted, holding that appellant was not entitled to a trial.

We affirm the District Court’s ruling that Carter had no statutory-rights to employment under the Civil Service laws 2 or the Veterans Preference Act.3 However we cannot agree with the District Court’s conclusion that Carter was not entitled to a trial to determine whether the discharge violated Section 9(c) of the Universal Military Training and Service Act, 50 U.S.C. App. § 459(c) (1964). We do not rule on appellant’s claim of unconstitutional arbitrariness.4

Because of the exemption of the FBI from the civil service laws, the Bureau is generally free to discharge its employees for any reasons it chooses, subject only to constitutional limitations. Obviously, however, that discretion is subject to any specific limitations that Congress has chosen to impose. This much is conceded by appellee. Thus, like any other employer, the FBI is subject to the provisions of § 9(c) of the Universal Military Training and Service Act by which Congress granted special rights and protections to the returning veteran: the right to reinstatement in the civilian job he held prior to military service; the right to be free in the first year after resumption of civilian life from discharge for other than “cause.”

The law giving a returning veteran a right to be free of discharge except for “cause” puts on the employer the burden of coming forward with a cause sufficient to justify the discharge. We think Carter has a right to a trial on issues of fact involved in that claim, and to a court determination of that claim in the light of evidence adduced in the courtroom. We now set forth the analysis underlying our conclusions.

Carter does not put before this court any prayer for relief embracing his future employment by the FBI. There is, however, jurisdiction in the District Court to consider whether appellant is entitled to clearance of his record from the stigma of the discharge and to damages. We see no valid basis for disclaiming jurisdiction either in the District Court or in this court.5

A. The Statutory Background

1. The right of veterans to reinstatement in civilian employment after honorable discharge from the armed forces was established by 1940 legislation.6 These provisions were reenacted without substantial change in § 9 of the Universal Military Training and Service Act.7 They reflect an effort “to offer * * * as much protection with respect to reemployment and retention of employment benefits as is within reasonable bounds,” 86 Cong.Rec. 10095 (1940) (Remarks of Sen. Sheppard). The law responded to the widespread difficulties that World War I veterans had in readjusting themselves to civilian lives. People drawn into the labor force by wartime production needs often kept their newfound jobs, shutting out veterans who needed time to reestablish their skills as well as their stability. Thus, at one time or another more than 200,000 World War I veterans ended up jobless and enrolled in Civilian Conservation Corps camps.8 That worry over losing a job might have substantial adverse impact on the morale of the armed services is plain.9 Indeed, the morale problem was viewed as the source of Congressional power to enact reemployment laws writing new terms into private labor contracts beyond the normal reach of Congress. 86 Cong.Rec. 10573 (1940).

This profound social problem of the returning serviceman is partially remedied by the reinstatement provision of § 9(c). That reinstatement right is buttressed by the further provision that for one year after reemployment a veteran has a Federal right that protects him against discharge from his regained job except for “cause.” This gives a reasonable period designed to “provide for the rehabilitation of the returning veteran so that he might be equipped to enter a highly competitive world of job finding without the handicap of a long absence from work, as well as to provide for his financial stability for the period of at least one year following his discharge from service.” Kay v. General Cable Corp., 59 F.Supp. 358, 360 (D.N.J. 1945).10

2. The FBI asserts that it had “cause” to dismiss Carter.11 Essentially the contention is that any FBI employee would be fired for this conduct, and the application of a general FBI personnel policy which does not discriminate against veterans must be upheld unless so arbitrary as to violate due process.

A private employer may have the right, in the absence of statute or contract to the contrary, to fire an employee for personal reasons, unrelated to job function, that appeal to the employer, the color of hair, a dislike of men who smoke, or have a tattoo, etc. That does not mean that the employer can fire a returning veteran for the same reason as constituting “cause.”

Moreover, a policy concerning grounds of discharge cannot be invoked as justification for firing a veteran within the one-year period, even for acts that would lead to discharge of ordinary civilian employees, if the veteran was not given fair notice that the acts constituted cause for discharge.

It is settled that veterans protections under the Act should be construed liberally “for the benefit of those who left private life to serve their country in its hour of great need.” Fishgold v. Sullivan Drydock & Repair Corp., 328 U.S. 275, 285, 66 S.Ct. 1105, 1111, 90 L.Ed. 1230 (1946).12 A veteran’s rights stand especially firm when it is the federal government that is his employer. Congress has been particularly concerned that the federal government lead the way in smoothing the reintegration of veterans into civilian life, and carry out policies that serve as an example for employers generally. This approach germinated in World War I, when federal civil service employees serving in the armed forces were guaranteed reemployment by Act of Congress at a time when no such right was provided against private employers.13 Moreover, under the present law the Government cannot invoke the defense available to a private employer that circumstances make reemployment unreasonable. The Supreme Court has explicitly held that the Government-employer is under greater restrictions than a private employer.14 The requirement that there be “cause” for discharge imposes higher duties on the Government-as-employer than merely abstaining from violation of constitutional rights, a requirement that gives no substantive content to the statute, or merely refraining from discrimination against veterans or the veteran.

3. The “cause” provision was inserted by Congress to provide the reemployed veteran with a protection of reasonableness similar to that enjoyed by a union member protected by provisions in a collective bargaining agreement limiting discharge to cause.15 The ultimate criterion,, whether the employer acted reasonably, is the one generally applied where an employment contract is terminated by an employer because of employee misconduct,16 and that standard is appropriate under this Federal statute. Kemp v. John Chattillon & Sons, 169 F.2d 203 (3rd Cir. 1948). We think a discharge may be upheld as one for “cause” only if it meets two criteria of reasonableness; one, that it is reasonable to discharge employees because of certain conduct, and the other, that the employee had fair notice, express or fairly implied, that such conduct would be ground for discharge.

Most of the cases decided under this law have involved discharges for violation of employer rules or instructions, usually after specific warning.17 While these have been held to constitute “cause” for discharge under the statute, it is clear that grounds of discharge that do not violate any law when applied to an unprotected employee — say, that the employer dislikes the employee (without having any reason other than intuition, or personality preference) — do not constitute statutory “cause” to fire a returning veteran unless the employer goes further than asserting his own subjective feelings and also meets the burden of showing objective conduct on the part of the employee that satisfies some objective standard of cause. See Cord v. New York Cleaning & Dye Works, 88 F.Supp. 704 (D.Conn.1948).

B. Appellant’s Conduct

1. We now consider the issue whether Carter was entitled to a trial on his claim that his discharge was not for cause. We immediately run into the problem that the record does not make clear the exact “cause” of the discharge. The District Judge granted summary judgment on the ground that regardless of whether Carter’s action was moral or immoral, he had been indiscreet in carrying on his relationship. The Government’s brief also treats the nexus of the case as including: “that appellant’s sexual misadventures had become sufficiently public knowledge to cause an anonymous complaint to the FBI” (p. 15).

That theory is not maintainable on the present record so as to support summary judgment without a trial. The only conduct before us on this record was limited to two occasions, and in Carter’s own apartment. There is no suggestion here that Carter was notoriously promiscuous, consorted with prostitutes or anything of that sort. Certainly Carter’s admitted conduct cannot be equated with that generally “loose” conduct likely to become a matter of public notoriety. The only basis for inferences as to the extent to which Carter’s conduct was known outside the circle of his roommates — also employed by the FBI — is an anonymous letter. The letter does not indicate how the writer came to know of Carter’s acts. For all that is known, the letter might have been written by an FBI employee.18 Even if written by someone outside, that person may have been a snoop, voyeur or crank, in which event it would be insubstantial as tending to prove the conduct came to be “public knowledge," much less objectionably notorious. There is good sense as well as fairness' in being chary of the anonymous letter.19

The FBI may well have made an informed appraisal, or investigation, that permitted it to ascertain that Carter so conducted himself as to turn a private relationship into a public affront. But that is a question of fact and Carter is entitled to a trial of that fact.

2. We turn to the issue whether “cause” for discharge was established as a matter of law by Carter’s admitted overnight “necking” and “petting” with his young lady in his apartment on two occasions.20

Behavior that is immoral can be “cause” for discharge. Veterans must conform to the “ordinarily expected standards of personal conduct.” 21 The question as to the content of “ordinarily expected standards” of conduct is of a kind normally left to the trier of fact, and is one on which evidence may rightly be tendered. The ultimate issue here, which is interwoven with such questions of fact, is whether the conduct was or should have been known to the employee to be prohibited by the employer.22

That knowledge may, of course, rest on fair implication, even though not made express, as in the kind of job-related misbehavior that is inconsistent with proper attention to work or proper loyalty to the employment relationship.23 But what was known in Carter’s case to be prohibited conduct? We do not think it can be said as a matter of law without giving Carter an opportunity to ventilate the facts at trial (including the facts of community standards and FBI stand-arts), that a reasonable man would know that Carter’s admitted conduct was contrary to his employer’s rules, as constituting conduct “unbecoming an employee of this Bureau.” 24

Appellant’s counsel point out that Carter did nothing more than the “bundling” condoned in Puritan New England. As for more modern precedent, the law is clear that an unmarried man does not have an “immoral” character for purposes of exclusion from citizenship even if he goes beyond necking and engages in heterosexual relations. Judge Learned Hand pointed out, “we have answered in the negative the question whether an unmarried man must live completely celibate, or forfeit his claim to a ‘good moral character.’ ” Schmidt v. United States, 177 F.2d 450, 452 (2d Cir. 1949).25

3. The Government’s motion put before the court, as an exhibit, the Handbook for FBI Employees, distributed to all FBI employees. We consider whether that Handbook shows that Carter was put on notice that his admitted conduct was prohibited. The Handbook is a description of the FBI and its work, as well as a “guide” to “help you refrain from doing anything which would in any way detract from the Bureau’s reputation or embarrass it in any manner.” The sole relevant passage is one stating- — -“personal misbehavior of Bureau employees reflecting unfavorably upon them or the Bureau, and neglect of duty cannot be tolerated.”

The Government invokes the standard of the lady from Dubuque and argues that as the FBI relies on the cooperation of the citizenry it is reasonable to compel moral standards for all employees — clerks as well as agents — that would satisfy that most upright lady.26 Pretermitting the issue whether the standard of the lady from Dubuque would have been reasonable if announced, there is a threshold problem, whether the employees have adequate notice of such a standard. The FBI employees are expressly told in the Handbook that legal gambling is permitted, as is off-duty use of intoxicants, yet these sit poorly with many upright citizens. We do not think a court can deny an employee a trial of the issue on the ground that this Handbook clearly puts FBI employees on notice that they must meet not only the general standards of their own community, but also the special standards of the lady from Dubuque. It should be underscored that the Handbook was not written for FBI agents alone, but is addressed to all FBI employees, including e. g. fingerprint classifiers and file clerks.

4. In short, the burden of justifying a discharge of a veteran where cause is required is on the employer, Cord v. New York Cleaning & Dye Works, supra. The question is whether the limitation on private life now asserted to apply to all FBI employees is something the average FBI clerical employee should and does know as contemplated by “ordinarily expected standards of personal conduct.” We cannot say that the answer is so clear that Carter is not even entitled to a trial.

5. A further question should be explored at trial. Carter requested that he be given permission to tender his resignation, and this was refused. Even if it should be found as a fact that Carter’s admitted conduct provided cause for terminating his FBI employment, that would not necessarily mean that the “cause” was sufficient to warrant rejection of his proposed resignation and insistence on the stigma of a “discharge” from the FBI, especially if Carter established that he had no subjective awareness that his conduct violated FBI standards. Where Government employment is involved, the label which serves as the reason for leaving it may have important consequences for obtaining future employment. At least we cannot hold as a matter of law on this record that it has no such consequence,27 and that the complaint must be dismissed for that reason. The employee’s readiness to resign must be taken into account in considering whether his conduct was so offensive as to give the Government “cause” under section 9(c) to reject the resignation and. insist that he be formally discharged. This is consistent with the language of the statute, and in furtherance of its purpose of protecting the veteran.

The order of the District Court is vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings.

So ordered.