en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Bloch_(diplomatic_officer)
1 correction found
Bloch's employment was terminated and he was dismissed from the State Department without benefit of a pension.
Later court records say Bloch resigned in July 1990, and that he was denied only an immediate annuity—not categorically all pension rights.
Full reasoning
This sentence overstates what happened in two ways.
First, later litigation records say Bloch resigned before the State Department's removal process concluded. The D.C. Circuit wrote that Bloch "was a member of the Senior Foreign Service when he resigned in 1990" and noted that he tendered a resignation on July 3, 1990, one week before his scheduled hearing. The court also described the Foreign Service Grievance Board's conclusion that Bloch's separation from service occurred upon that July 1990 resignation.
Second, the record does not support the blanket statement that he was left "without benefit of a pension." The same opinion explains that the Secretary withheld consent only for an immediate retirement annuity. It further states that Bloch remained entitled to a deferred annuity under Section 810 and lost that right only because he later withdrew his retirement contributions, which the Board treated as a waiver.
So the article's sentence is inaccurate as written: it collapses a more complicated sequence (resignation, denial of immediate annuity, later waiver of deferred annuity) into a categorical claim that he was simply dismissed and left with no pension.
3 sources
- Bloch, Felix S. v. Powell, Colin L., No. 02-5311 (D.C. Cir. 2003) :: Justia
"Appellant Felix S. Bloch was a member of the Senior Foreign Service when he resigned in 1990" ... "Bloch tendered a letter of resignation" on July 3, 1990 ... the Board found that "Bloch's separation from the Service occurred immediately upon his resignation in July 1990."
- Bloch, Felix S. v. Powell, Colin L., No. 02-5311 (D.C. Cir. 2003) :: Justia
The opinion says the Secretary withheld consent to an "immediate retirement annuity," but that Bloch "had remained entitled to a deferred annuity under Section 810" and later "waived his right to this deferred annuity" by taking a refund of contributions.
- Felix S. Bloch v. Colin L. Powell, United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Nov. 21, 2003)
"Bloch ... resigned in 1990"; in 1992 the Department "decided to withhold consent to [his] voluntary retirement and receipt of an immediate annuity"; the Board later noted that Bloch "had remained entitled to a deferred annuity under Section 810."