United States v. Wickersham

Background

A government clerk in Boise, Idaho, worked as a stenographer and typist in the surveyor-general’s office at an annual salary of $1,100. After presidential and departmental orders placed his job in the classified civil service, the local surveyor-general suspended him on November 1, 1897, without written charges or giving him notice or a chance to respond. The clerk protested, sought pay for the suspension period, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office later ordered reinstatement and procedures for formal charges; the clerk was offered a different Washington position which he declined.

Reasoning

The Court asked whether a clerical employee properly entered in the classified civil service can be deprived of pay when suspended by a subordinate officer without the written charges, notice, and opportunity to defend required by the President’s civil-service orders. The Court found the employee was covered by the classification and that the suspension was made without legal authority. Because he remained ready and willing to perform his duties, the Court agreed he was entitled to the salary for the period of wrongful suspension and affirmed the judgment awarding back pay through May 10, 1898, when he was offered the bureau position in Washington.

Real world impact

The decision enforces civil-service protections requiring written charges and a chance to defend before removal by subordinate supervisors. It affirms that classified clerical employees wrongfully suspended while ready to work may recover their pay for that suspension period. The Court did not decide whether the President or a proper authority could summarily remove an employee; it addressed only wrongful suspension by a subordinate officer.