Andrew McCabe was fired, the media has reported, just shy of his 50th birthday and thus short of immediate retirement at age 50 based on his qualifying years of service. We read elsewhere the following: Mr. McCabe had submitted a resignation to be effective after he turned 50 years of age. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigations of misconduct had preceded the firing. An FBI employee (unless veteran preference eligible) does not have rights to appeal to the Merit System Protection Board. Mr. McCabe should get a pension at a later age (57-years old we believe). His immediate retirement, however, may have been impacted.
In email discussions with another attorney, we had questions about the rights of an FBI agent which were not answered in what we had read in media thus far.
We had not yet read what FBI procedural rights or process took place, beyond the investigation and media-reported findings. The first question is does anyone know whether Mr. McCabe received, under FBI internal procedures, notice of the proposed termination of employment and a chance to review relevant documents or reply.
The second question is whether the timing of the termination was intended to deny immediate retirement. If yes, then we would have additional questions about what notice is needed before taking immediate retirement (in addition to any notice before taking pay by the termination of employment).
These are due process questions but as said we do not have enough information at this point and pose the questions hypothetically. Please feel free to email billaramony@gmail.com if you have any legal or procedural insights (not politically or moral, enough of that in the media) or blog here if able. Thank you for listening.
William Aramony, Law Offices 