UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD 

NORTHEASTERN REGIONAL OFFICE 

THERESE G. WOLF, 

Appellant, 

v. 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS, 

Agency. 

DOCKET NUMBER 

PH-0707-15-0089-J-1 

DATE: December 5, 2014 

Bonnie Brownell, Esquire, Christopher Landrigan, Esquire, Samantha 

Basso, Washington, D.C., for the appellant. 

Hansel Cordeiro, Esquire and Kimberly Perkins McLeod, Esquire, 

Washington, D.C., Michael E. Anfang, Esquire, Kansas City, Missouri, 

and Nicholas E. Kennedy, Esquire, Huntington, West Virginia, for the 

agency. 

BEFORE 

William L. Boulden 

Chief Administrative Judge 

FINAL DECISION 

On November 19, 2014, appellant, a former career, non-probationary 

Senior Executive Service (SES) Healthcare Administrator (Medical Center 

Director), for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA’s) Pittsburgh Healthcare 

System (VAPHS), timely filed an appeal from her November 12, 2014 removal. 

Appeal File (AF), Tab 1. The Board has jurisdiction under 38 U.S.C. 

§ 713(d)(2)(A), (g)(1)(A) and 5 U.S.C. § 7701. See 5 C.F.R. §§ 1210.1, 

1210.2(a). The appeal received expedited review as required by 38 U.S.C. 
 

 

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§ 713(e). See 38 U.S.C. § 713(e)(2); 5 C.F.R. §§ 1210.1(d), 1210.20(b). For the 

following reasons, the appeal is DISMISSED as settled. 

On December 3, 2014, the parties submitted by email message their signed 

settlement agreement, dated on December 3rd. I have scanned the agreement and 

placed it in the record at AF, Tab 19. 

I held a status teleconference on December 3rd to confirm that, although the 

agreement was not signed by counsel for either side, it was, in fact, their 

agreement. I also advised them that although appellant is at least 50 years of age, 

because she did not allege age discrimination, it was not necessary that the 

agreement contain an Age Discrimination in Employment Act waiver. Finally, 

we discussed that the agreement’s confidentiality clause applied to the fact of, as 

well as the terms of, the agreement. Therefore, the agreement and this decision 

will be password protected in the Board’s systems and SEALED. 

SETTLEMENT 

The parties entered into a settlement agreement which has been 

incorporated into the Board’s record for enforcement purposes. The Board favors 

settlement agreements between the parties as they avoid unnecessary litigation 

and encourage a fair resolution of all issues raised by an appeal. 

The Board will accept a settlement agreement into the record and enforce 

its terms if the following requirements are met: (1) The Board must have 

jurisdiction over the matter; (2) the agreement must be lawful on its face and 

freely reached by the parties; and (3) the parties must understand the terms of the 

agreement and agree that it is to be enforceable by the Board. See Littlejohn v. 

Department of Housing & Urban Development, 47 M.S.P.R. 331, 332 (1991), 

modified by Stewart v. U.S. Postal Service, 73 M.S.P.R. 104, 107 (1997). 

I find that all of these conditions have been met in this case. I have 

reviewed the terms of the settlement agreement and find it voluntarily entered 

into, understood by the parties, and lawful on its face. Consequently, the 
 

 

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agreement will be accepted as dispositive of the appeal. See Whatley v. 

Department of the Air Force, 76 M.S.P.R. 25, 26 (1997). Because the parties 

desire to make the settlement agreement enforceable by the Board, it has been 

formally entered and accepted into the record for enforcement purposes. See Dye 

v. U.S. Postal Service, 58 M.S.P.R. 605, 606 (1993). 

DECISION 

The appeal is DISMISSED as settled. 

FOR THE BOARD: ______________________________ 

William L. Boulden 

Chief Administrative Judge 

NOTICE TO APPELLANT 

Pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 713(e)(2), this decision is final and not subject to 

any further appeal. 

ENFORCEMENT 

The settlement agreement has been made part of the record. If you believe 

there has not been full compliance with the terms of the agreement, you may ask 

the Board to enforce the agreement by filing a petition for enforcement with this 

office. 

Your petition for enforcement must describe specifically the reasons why 

you believe there is noncompliance. It must include the date and results of any 

communications regarding compliance, and a statement showing that a copy of 

the petition was either mailed or hand-delivered to the agency. 

Any petition for enforcement must be filed within a reasonable period of 

time after you discover the asserted noncompliance. If you believe that your 

petition is filed late, you should include a statement and evidence showing good 

cause for the delay and a request for an extension of time for filing.