A national park superintendent who was highly valued for her performance and skills has been fired by the National Park Service for refusing to accept a job 500 miles away from her home and family.
While Mary A. Miller, superintendent at Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska, initially was successful in appealing her dismissal, a federal appellate court overturned a decision by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board and Ms. Miller was escorted out of the park by the chief ranger on New Year's Eve.
Park Service officials in Alaska decided in 2010 to shift Superintendent Miller from the historical park to a new position as Alaska Native Affairs Liaison in Anchorage, 500 miles away. When she declined the reassignment, claiming she was not qualified for the role and that it would be a hardship because of her family situation, the Park Service fired her. Ms. Miller then appealed that decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which overturned her dismissal.
In gathering testimony on Ms. Miller's appeal, the Merit Board heard from the Park Service how it "had a high regard for the appellant’s performance as the superintendent in Sitka. Indeed, agency witnesses testified that the agency relied upon the appellant’s strengths and accomplishments as a Superintendent as the basis for directing her reassignment to the Liaison position in Anchorage," the board noted.
Furthermore, it added in its ruling in April 2013, "we find that it did not promote the efficiency of the service to direct the appellant to take the position in Anchorage against her will and to remove her from employment altogether when she declined the position. As a result of the agency’s actions, it lost an apparently valued and successful employee, and created two vacancies that the agency had to fill after her removal."
The federal government's Office of Personnel Management then appealed that ruling to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the Merit Board, holding that the Park Service had legitimate reasons for reassigning Ms. Miller to Anchorage.
Yet the Park Service's determination to transfer Ms. Miller from Sitka was deemed "reprehensible" by U.S. Circuit Judge Evan Wallach. While Judge Wallach agreed with the court's majority that the Merit Systems Protection Board had wrongly approached Ms. Miller's case, he maintained that "it appears obvious to me that the agency’s actions were entirely pretextual and in bad faith."
Specifically, the Circuit judge wrote that the Park Service had crafted the job description for the Alaska Native Affairs Liaison in such a way " ... to obtain the desired result. It is obvious to me that the agency modified the standards and qualifications to make Ms. Miller the only person uniquely qualified, within the pool of employees that were considered for the position; that the agency’s actions were entirely pretextual; and that they were intended solely to present Ms. Miller with an improperly motivated Hobson’s choice. Such conduct by an agency of the United States is reprehensible."
In its ruling, reached in September, the Court of Appeals directed the Merit Systems Protection Board to reverse its decision. A final order supporting Ms. Miller's removal was filed on New Year's Eve and the Park Service appointed Neil Akana as acting superintendent for Sitka.
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Sorry. I failed to identify myself and the author to the last post.
Results of questions asked should be anonymous with only a summary provided. But........
You got a year or two? I could tell you many tales of idiocracy from the NPS
The federal circuit made their decsion on 9/2/2105, it took until 12/31/2015 for the MSPB to reverse their decsion based on the federal circuit court:
http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=1256963&version=12...
Unfortunately, you will NEVER hear the "rest of the story" or the "REAL story". I've been wanting to know the "REAL stories" behind similar things I have witness throughout my 42 years with the National Park Service. What wonderful reading that would be. :) Of course, they have always and will always protect the guilty so none of those stories will never be put in black and white. BUMMER. This lady needs continue to fight this.
Spot on Paula. Wagon circling at the highest levels, demoting the efficiency of the fed at the expense of a few folks who really care about good government.
The real story will come out - it'll take time. And the "guilty"will be long gone...
But the again, no one ever said a democracy was efficient :)
It would be interesting reading through the the full report on this case. How would this penalty compare to that of the superintendent at Canaveral National Seashore. An IG report found the superintdnent at Canaveral to be a liar (lack of candor) and that she misused government funds/property. However, neither she or other listed staff in the IG report lost their jobs or were forced to move. There appears to be a lack of consistency with this agency in applying penalties.
It is really unfortunate how dysfunctional the NPS is. The agency has an amazing mission and has a lot of employees that really care about the agency. However, there is zero accountability and some rotten eggs who ruin the agency because no one wants to deal with the idiots that do illegal and unethical things. I know there isn't an agency out there that doesn't have issues but NPS has a lot of issues that try to get swept under the rug. The other problem is Superintendents have too much power and don't necessarily use it appropriately. The Director is running the agency into the ground too. It is pretty clear he doesn't care about the agency. No one will man up in the agency and actually address the issues. The Employee Viewpoint survey was pathetic and a sad story. There has been very little done to improve the environment. I hope the next director cares about making the NPS a better place to work.