United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit 

2008-3088 

VICTOR W. WELSHANS, 

Petitioner, 

v. 

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, 

Respondent. 

 Ariel E. Solomon, Tully Rinckey P.L.L.C., of Albany, New York, argued for 

petitioner. On the brief was Greg T. Rinckey. 

Tara J. Kilfoyle, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, 

United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for respondent. With 

her on the brief were Gregory G. Katsas, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Jeanne E. 

Davidson, Director, and Franklin E. White, Jr., Assistant Director. 

Appealed from: Merit Systems Protection Board
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT 

 

 

 2008-3088 

 

 

VICTOR W. WELSHANS, 

 Petitioner, 

v. 

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, 

 Respondent. 

Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in PH3443060353-I-1. 

______________________ 

DECIDED: December 15, 2008 

_______________________ 

Before MAYER, SCHALL, and MOORE, Circuit Judges. 

MAYER, Circuit Judge. 

Victor W. Welshans appeals the final decision of the Merit Systems Protection 

Board that dismissed his appeal seeking corrective action under the Uniformed Services 

Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (“USERRA”), 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301-

4333. See Welshans v. U.S. Postal Serv., 107 M.S.P.R. 110 (M.S.P.B. 2007). We 

affirm. 
I. Background 

 Welshans has been employed by the United States Postal Service since 1981. 

From August 1983 until August 2004, he also served as a reservist in the United States 

Army. 

In 2006, Welshans filed an appeal with the board, alleging that the Postal Service 

had improperly charged him for military leave. He asserted that he should not have 

been charged leave for days, such as Sundays and holidays, which fell within a period 

of absence for military training, but which were not his scheduled Postal Service 

workdays. 

 In an initial decision, dated December 19, 2006, an administrative judge found 

that the Postal Service had acted in violation of its Employee and Labor Relations 

Manual (“ELM”) when it charged Welshans for military leave on August 21 and August 

23, 1999. On appeal, however, the board reversed. The board determined that the 

administrative judge had improperly applied the 2002 version of the ELM, rather than 

the ELM in effect in 1999. Because the board concluded that the ELM in effect in 1999 

unambiguously required that the Postal Service charge non-workdays falling within a 

period of absence for active duty against military leave, it dismissed Welshans’ appeal 

for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. 

Welshans then timely appealed to this court. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 

U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9). 

II. Discussion 

Our review of a decision of the board is circumscribed by statute. We must affirm 

the decision unless we find it to be: “(1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or 

2008-3088 2
otherwise not in accordance with law; (2) obtained without procedures required by law, 

rule, or regulation having been followed; or (3) unsupported by substantial evidence.” 5 

U.S.C. § 7703(c); Lizzio v. Dep’t of Army, 534 F.3d 1376, 1381-82 (Fed. Cir. 2008); 

Hernandez v. Dep’t of Air Force, 498 F.3d 1328, 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2007). The 

interpretation of a statute or regulation is a question of law that we review de novo. See

Lengerich v. Dep’t of Interior, 454 F.3d 1367, 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2006). 

Welshans argues that the Postal Service should not have charged him military 

leave for days on which he was away from his workplace on reserve duty, but which 

were not his scheduled workdays at the Postal Service. He advances three arguments. 

First, he contends that charging him leave for non-workdays is contrary to this court’s 

decision in Butterbaugh v. Department of Justice, 336 F.3d 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2003). 

Second, he asserts that Postal Service regulations, contained in the ELM, prohibit 

charging an employee military leave for non-workdays. Finally, he argues that charging 

leave for non-workdays constitutes a facial violation of USERRA, 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301-33. 

A. Butterbaugh

Under 5 U.S.C. § 6323(a)(1), certain employees of the federal government are 

granted “15 days per fiscal year” of military leave.* In Butterbaugh, this court concluded 

 * In relevant part, 5 U.S.C. § 6323 provides: 

[A]n employee as defined by section 2105 of this title . . . is entitled 

to leave without loss in pay, time, or performance or efficiency rating for 

active duty, inactive-duty training . . . funeral honors duty . . . or engaging 

in field or coast defense training . . . as a Reserve of the armed forces or 

member of the National Guard. Leave under this subsection accrues for 

an employee or individual at the rate of 15 days per fiscal year and, to the 

extent that it is not used in a fiscal year, accumulates for use in the 

succeeding fiscal year until it totals 15 days at the beginning of a fiscal 

year. 

2008-3088 3
that the word “days” in section 6323 should be construed to mean workdays rather than 

calendar days. 336 F.3d at 1336-42. Our decision was premised on the fact that the 

Office of Personnel Management had determined that the term “days” meant workdays 

in 5 U.S.C. § 6326, a “closely related” federal leave statute. Id. at 1338-39 (citing 5 

C.F.R. § 630.804). Administrative agencies are expected to “construe the same term in 

closely related statutes consistently,” and since the term “days” had been construed to 

mean workdays in section 6326, we concluded that it should be construed to mean 

workdays in section 6323 as well. Id. Because we determined that section 6323 grants 

employees fifteen workdays, rather than fifteen calendar days, of military leave, we held 

that the Department of Justice was prohibited from charging non-workdays against its 

employees’ military leave. Id. at 1337-42. 

Butterbaugh, however, affords Welshans no remedy. The only issue addressed 

there was “the correct interpretation of 5 U.S.C. § 6323(a)(1).” Butterbaugh, 336 F.3d at 

1336. By statute, the Postal Service is specifically excluded from the application of 

section 6323. See 5 U.S.C. § 2105(e) (“Except as otherwise provided by law, an 

employee of the United States Postal Service . . . is deemed not an employee for 

purposes of this title.”); Nigg v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 321 F.3d 1381, 1384 (Fed. Cir. 

2003) (“The provisions of Title 5 do not apply to the Postal Service unless Congress has 

specifically so provided.”); Bacashihua v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 811 F.2d 1498, 1501 

(Fed. Cir. 1987) (“[T]he Postal Service [is] an independent establishment of the 

executive branch with very limited application of federal employee law.”). Because 

section 6323 is inapplicable to Postal Service employees, nothing in Butterbaugh

2008-3088 4
prohibits the Postal Service from charging non-workdays against its employees’ military 

leave. 

B. The Employee and Labor Relations Manual

Although section 6323 does not apply to the Postal Service, agency employees 

are entitled to military leave under the provisions of the ELM. Under current regulations, 

the agency does not charge non-workdays falling within a period of military service 

against an employee’s military leave. See ELM § 517 (effective Sept. 8, 2001). But in 

1999, the year in which Welshans’ disputed leave was charged, the ELM provided that: 

“Nonworkdays falling within a period of absence for active duty are charged against the 

paid military leave allowed for full-time employees during the fiscal year, but 

nonworkdays falling at the beginning and end of an active duty period are not charged.” 

ELM § 517.53. Thus, during the relevant time period, the ELM unambiguously required 

that the Postal Service charge non-workdays falling within a period of absence for 

military duty against military leave. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the plain language of the ELM in effect in 1999 

required the agency to charge non-workdays against military leave, Welshans contends 

that the Postal Service intended to provide its employees with rights “analogous” to 

those provided to other federal employees by section 6323. In support, he argues that 

“[t]he [Postal Service] originally implemented a policy that mirrored the [f]ederal law [in 5 

U.S.C. § 6323] and then routinely amended that policy to reflect changes in the 

prevailing federal law despite the fact that it was under no statutory obligation to do so.” 

In essence, Welshans argues that the Postal Service intended to “impliedly integrate” all 

section 6323 rights into the ELM. 

2008-3088 5
Welshans acknowledges, however, that he did not raise this argument—either 

before the administrative judge or the board. We decline, therefore, to consider it on 

appeal. See Rockwell v. Dep’t of Transp., 789 F.2d 908, 913 (Fed. Cir. 1986) (“Our 

precedent clearly establishes the impropriety of seeking a reversal of the board’s 

decision on the basis of assertions never presented to the presiding official or to the 

board.”). Although “there are circumstances in which a federal appellate court is 

justified in resolving an issue not passed on below,” Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 

121 (1976), no such circumstances are present here. It would be manifestly unfair for 

this court to resolve the question of whether the Postal Service intended to “impliedly 

integrate” section 6323 rights into the ELM without giving the government an opportunity 

to present evidence on the issue.** See Hormel v. Helvering, 312 U.S. 552, 556 (1941)

(An appellate court’s refusal to consider new arguments on appeal is “essential in order 

that parties may have the opportunity to offer all the evidence they believe relevant to 

the issues . . . [and] in order that litigants may not be surprised on appeal by final 

decision there of issues upon which they have had no opportunity to introduce 

evidence.”). 

C. USERRA 

Finally, Welshans contends that charging military leave for non-workdays is, on 

its face, a violation of USERRA. “USERRA represents Congress’s most recent effort to 

 ** In Myers v. United States Postal Service, No. CH-3443-07-0628-I-1, 2008 

MSPB LEXIS 622 (M.S.P.B. Jan. 31, 2008), an administrative judge of the board 

rejected the contention that the Postal Service intended to “impliedly integrate” section 

6323 rights into the ELM. He noted that the Postal Service had “provided 

uncontradicted evidence that proves that it did not intend the military leave provisions of 

the ELM [to] mirror the military leave provisions of [section 6323].” Id. at *6. Myers is 

currently on appeal to this court. 

2008-3088 6
create a comprehensive statutory scheme to provide civilian reemployment rights for 

those who serve in the armed forces in order ‘to encourage noncareer service in the 

uniformed services by eliminating or minimizing the disadvantages to civilian careers 

and employment which can result from such service.’” Smith v. U.S. Postal Serv., 540 

F.3d 1364, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (quoting 38 U.S.C. § 4301(a)). It prohibits 

discrimination against persons serving in the military by mandating that a member of “a 

uniformed service shall not be denied . . . any benefit of employment by an employer on 

the basis of that membership . . . .” 38 U.S.C. § 4311(a); see Hernandez, 498 F.3d at 

1332 n.4. 

 Under USERRA, the board has jurisdiction over a government employee’s claim 

that he has been denied a “benefit of employment” on the basis of his membership in 

the uniformed services. See 38 U.S.C. §§ 4311(a), 4324(b). The term “benefit of 

employment” has been given an “expansive interpretation,” see Yates v. Merit Sys. Prot. 

Bd., 145 F.3d 1480, 1484-85 (Fed. Cir. 1998), and has been construed to include 

military leave, Pucilowski v. Dep’t of Justice, 498 F.3d 1341, 1344 (Fed. Cir. 2007). 

Contrary to Welshans’ assertions, however, the Postal Service’s military leave 

policy did not deny reservists any benefit of employment. Instead, the ELM in effect in 

1999 granted reservists an additional benefit not available to non-military employees. 

While non-reservists were entitled to sick and annual leave, reservists were granted not 

only sick and annual leave, but military leave as well. Regardless of whether nonworkdays are charged against military leave, such leave is a benefit available only to 

employees serving in the military. USERRA prohibits discrimination against reservists 

because of their service: there is nothing in the statute to prevent an agency from 

2008-3088 7
2008-3088 8

granting them benefits not available to other employees. See Fahrenbacher v. Dep’t of 

Navy, 85 M.S.P.R. 500, 510 (M.S.P.B. 2000), aff’d sub nom. Sheehan v. Dep’t of Navy, 

240 F.3d 1009 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (“To establish [USERRA] discrimination, [veterans] must 

show that they were treated more harshly than non-veterans. The fact that they were 

not treated better than non-veterans does not show discrimination.”). 

III. Conclusion 

Accordingly, the decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board is affirmed. 

AFFIRMED