After providing the parties a specific opportunity to address the issue of timeliness, the administrative judge dismissed the appeal as untimely, noting that the period for filing a Board appeal is not extended while an appellant pursues a grievance. IAF, Tab 5 at 2. The appellant timely petitions for review, arguing that his appeal was untimely because the agency s Letter of Decision failed to give him notice of his appeal rights. Petition for Review File, Tab 1. Id. , Tab 3.
Jurisdiction is the threshold issue in adjudicating an appeal.
However, the Board may dismiss an appeal as untimely filed without adjudicating the issue of its jurisdiction if the Board arguably has jurisdiction over the appeal, and the record developed on the timeliness issue shows no good cause for the untimely filing. Here, the undisputed record evidence clearly shows, as discussed below, that the Board lacks jurisdiction over this appeal. Thus the Board does not, even arguably, have jurisdiction over this appeal, and the administrative judge should not have dismissed the appeal as untimely filed without adjudicating the issue of jurisdiction. IAF, Tab 1. Generally, an appellant must be given specific notice of the jurisdictional issue and an opportunity to reply to the notice before his appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.