David R. McLeod v. Department of the Army, Sharpe Army Depot and the Merit Systems Protection Board

McLeod, a civilian warehouse worker, appeals a final Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or Board) order affirming his removal by the Department of the Army for lunchtime possession of marijuana.

FACTS

David McLeod is a veteran who was employed by the Army for nearly three years. McLeod was removed from his position as Warehouse Worker for the Sharpe Army Depot in Lathrop, California pursuant to charges of possession of marijuana on a government installation. Using field glasses, an Army investigator observed McLeod and a co-worker drive onto the Army grounds during the lunch hour. The investigator then saw the co-worker take a brown paper bag from the trunk of his car and place a plastic baggie in McLeod’s lunch pail. The Chief of the Security Division determined that the facts did not warrant a search of McLeod or his co-worker and allowed the two to pass unquestioned. The car remained under surveillance, however, and a later search revealed a brown paper bag containing six baggies of marijuana in the car trunk and marijuana roaches and cigarette papers in the car ashtray. No search was ever made of McLeod, his lunch pail, or his work area, nor were the contents of the…