Unpaid suspension after charges end
Reynolds v. Department of Justice
In brief
- Where it stands
- Petition Pending
Awaiting an order on the petition
- What it’s about
- The Merit Systems Protection Board’s administrative judge found that a Kentucky court’s May 8, 2023, conditional-diversion order was the final disposition of Lance Reynolds’s criminal case, but the Justice Department kept him on unpaid suspension until May 22.
- What's at stake
- The dispute concerns whether Reynolds could remain without pay after the Board’s judge found his criminal proceedings had ended.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
Reynolds has asked the Supreme Court to review whether that continued suspension had a lawful, record-supported basis.
The Board’s administrative judge found that a Kentucky court’s May 8, 2023, diversion order was the final disposition of Reynolds’s criminal case. The Justice Department kept him on unpaid suspension until May 22.
Reynolds cites Federal Circuit precedent that allows an agency to suspend an employee without pay while criminal charges are pending, but requires it to end the suspension within a reasonable time after the case is resolved.
Question presented
Whether, after the Board expressly found that the state-court diversion order constituted the “ final disposition of the criminal proceedings, ” a reviewing court may affirm the continuation of an indefinite unpaid suspension without determining when the agency ’ s criminal-proceeding justification terminated and without identifying a lawful, record-supported basis for continuing to withhold the employee's pay after that disposition.
What happens next
The next step is for the Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the petition. No argument or decision date is set.
Documents
Docket activity
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
Brief added: Petition
More questions
- What does Reynolds want the Supreme Court to examine?
- He asks whether the Federal Circuit could leave the suspension in place without deciding when the criminal-case reason for it ended or identifying a lawful basis in the record for withholding his pay.
Sources
Primary materials from the Court and the parties. Grounded in docket records and cited sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.