Source: https://openjurist.org/682/f2d/981/borrell-v-united-states-international-communications-agency
Timestamp: 2017-10-17 04:56:37
Document Index: 256432413

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1206', '§ 1206', '§ 1208', '§ 7701', '§ 7512', '§ 1206', '§ 7703', '§ 717', '§ 717', '§ 717', '§ 717', '§ 717', '§ 717', '§ 7701', '§ 1206', '§ 152', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 552', '§ 552', '§ 552', '§ 552', '§ 552']

682 F. 2d 981 - Borrell v. United States International Communications Agency
682 F.2d 981
Phyllis F. BORRELL, Appellant,
UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY, et al.
422 U.S. at 78, 95 S.Ct. at 2087 (emphasis in original). Legislative intent has proved to be the preeminent test. In Cannon v. University of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 60 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), the Court stated that "before concluding that Congress intended to make a remedy available to a special class of litigants, a court must clearly analyze the four factors that Cort identified as indicative of such an intent." Id. at 688, 99 S.Ct. at 1953; see also id. at 717-18, 99 S.Ct. at 1968 (Rehnquist, J., concurring), 740 (Powell, J., dissenting). Similarly, in Touche Ross & Co. v. Reddington, 442 U.S. 560, 99 S.Ct. 2479, 61 L.Ed.2d 82 (1979), the Court held:
It is true that in Cort v. Ash, the Court set forth four factors that it considered "relevant" in determining whether a private remedy is implicit in a statute not expressly providing one. But the Court did not decide that each of these factors is entitled to equal weight. The central inquiry remains whether Congress intended to create, either expressly or by implication, a private cause of action. Indeed, the first three factors discussed in Cort -the language and focus of the statute, its legislative history, and its purpose, see 422 U.S., at 78 (95 S.Ct. at 2087)-are ones traditionally relied upon in determining legislative intent.
Id. at 575-76, 99 S.Ct. at 2488-2489. And in Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis, 444 U.S. 11, 100 S.Ct. 242, 62 L.Ed.2d 146 (1979), the Court stated that "(t)he dispositive question remains whether Congress intended to create any such remedy." Id. at 24, 100 S.Ct. at 249. Finally, this term, in Merrill Lynch v. Curran, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 1825, 72 L.Ed.2d 182 (1982), and Jackson Transit Authority v. Local Division 1285, Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO-CLC, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 2202, 72 L.Ed.2d 639 (1982), the Court again reiterated that the question of whether there was an implied right of action was one of legislative intent. See also Chrysler Corp. v. Brown, 441 U.S. 281, 99 S.Ct. 1705, 60 L.Ed.2d 208 (1979); Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978); Piper v. Chris-Craft Indus., 430 U.S. 1, 97 S.Ct. 926, 51 L.Ed.2d 124 (1977) (all finding no implied right of action).
In enacting the CSRA, we find that Congress did not intend to create a private statutory right of action to enforce restrictions against reprisals for whistleblowing.4 Although Congress sought to safeguard all employees, both tenured and non-tenured, from prohibited personnel practices and thereby to insure a "more effective civil service" for the public generally, it established in the Act a detailed enforcement scheme to effect its purpose. That scheme allows probationary employees such as appellant relief only through investigation and corrective action by the OSC. See Wren v. Merit Systems Protection Board, 618 F.2d 867, at 873 (D.C.Cir.1982) (hereinafter Wren). The OSC is authorized and required by the CSRA, 5 U.S.C. § 1206(a)(1), to investigate allegations of prohibited personnel practices to the extent necessary to determine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe the allegations. If the investigation results in a finding of prohibited personnel practice, the OSC may seek correction before the MSPB. 5 U.S.C. § 1206(c)(1) (A). The OSC may also seek an interim stay of a personnel action from the MSPB if it determines that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the action constitutes a prohibited personnel practice. 5 U.S.C. § 1208. In addition to OSC relief, tenured employees may also independently pursue a Chapter 77 appeal to the Board. 5 U.S.C. § 7701; see Frazier v. Merit Systems Protection Board, 672 F.2d 150 (D.C.Cir. 1982). In 5 U.S.C. § 7512, Congress explicitly provided that the limited definition of "employee," referring only to tenured employees, did not apply to OSC investigations and correction actions. Thus, we are unable to conclude from the statute that Congress intended to provide an independent judicial remedy to employees, probationary or tenured, to enforce the statutory prohibition against reprisal for whistleblowing activities. Although Congress intended to protect all whistleblowers,5 the protection afforded probationary employees was limited to that available under 5 U.S.C. § 1206. Congress apparently wanted not only to provide an effective and expeditious process for investigating whistleblower allegations, but also to protect against abuse of that process to halt termination based on unsatisfactory job performance. See Markup Session on S. 2460, Civil Service Reform Act at 85-86 (Unpublished, May 22, 1978) (remarks of Senators Percy and Chiles). Judicial review of the OSC's decision not to investigate or to prosecute is limited, at most, to insuring compliance with the statutory requirements of an inquiry into employee allegations to the extent necessary to determine if the allegations are meritorious and of a brief statement of reasons for terminating an investigation. See Wren at 872-874. Our conclusion that no private right of action was intended by Congress is also based upon 5 U.S.C. § 7703, which provides for judicial review of adverse agency appeals exclusively in the courts of appeals or Court of Claims, except in cases involving claims of discrimination under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act or the Equal Pay Act. From this we surmise that Congress did not mean to allow the district courts any extensive supervisory jurisdiction over the way in which the CSRA's mandates are enforced.
The district court apparently assumed-and we agree-that Borrell's allegation that she was dismissed because she voiced concerns over agency practices presented a claim of deprivation of a first amendment liberty without due process of law. See Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District, 439 U.S. 410, 99 S.Ct. 693, 58 L.Ed.2d 619 (1979); Mt. Healthy City Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977); Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968). Thus the question of whether the CSRA meant to wipe out such a preexisting cause of action comes immediately to the fore. This is an altogether different question from that discussed previously, i.e., whether the CSRA created a new statutorily-based cause of action for whistleblowing retaliation. It is thus not governed by Cort v. Ash principles. Instead, the issue is whether Congress meant to take away from probationary employees preexisting rights of action to pursue constitutional rights in district court actions.
We think not. Where newly enacted statutory remedies are unavailable to a particular segment of employees, the Supreme Court appears to have imposed a kind of "clear statement" requirement on Congress, requiring it to indicate explicitly its intent to displace judicially-created remedies for constitutional deprivations. See Carlson v. Green, 446 U.S. 14, 18-19, 100 S.Ct. 1468, 1471-1472, 64 L.Ed.2d 15 (1980); Davis v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228, 246-47, 99 S.Ct. 2264, 2277-2278, 60 L.Ed.2d 846 (1979) ("We do not now interpret § 717 to foreclose the judicial remedies of those expressly unprotected by the statute. On the contrary, § 717 leaves undisturbed whatever remedies petitioner might otherwise possess.") We can find no such clear statement here. See generally Sager, Foreword: Constitutional Limitation on Congress' Authority to Regulate the Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts, 95 Harv.L.Rev. 17, 88 n.223 (1981). Nevertheless, the government argues that the district court's decision must be sustained because the CSRA preempts all alternative remedies for all employees, even those preexisting judicial remedies based upon the Constitution which have not been replaced by administrative appeals or judicial review of any kind.
The government's preemption argument is based upon Brown v. General Services Administration, 425 U.S. 820, 96 S.Ct. 1961, 48 L.Ed.2d 402 (1976). There the Supreme Court held Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be the exclusive source of judicial remedies for discrimination arising out of federal employment. After examining the statutory remedies, the court concluded:
The balance, completeness, and structural integrity of § 717 are inconsistent with the petitioner's contention that the judicial remedy afforded at § 717(c) was designed merely to supplement other putative judicial relief. His view fails, in our estimation, to accord due weight to the fact that unlike these other supposed remedies, § 717 does not contemplate merely judicial relief. Rather, it provides for a careful blend of administrative and judicial enforcement powers. Under the petitioner's theory, by perverse operation of a type of Gresham's law, § 717, with its rigorous administrative exhaustion requirements and time limitations, would be driven out of currency were immediate access to the courts under other, less demanding statutes permissible. The crucial administrative role that each agency together with the Civil Service Commission was given by Congress in the eradication of employment discrimination would be eliminated "by the simple expedient of putting a different label on (the) pleadings." Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 489-490 (93 S.Ct. 1827, 1836, 36 L.Ed.2d 439) (1973). It would require the suspension of disbelief to ascribe to Congress the design to allow its careful and thorough remedial scheme to be circumvented by artful pleading.
Id. at 832-33, 96 S.Ct. at 1967-1968 (footnote omitted). The government also argues that the District Court for the District of Columbia has, in two cases similar to the instant one, applied Brown to dismiss constitutional claims. Brawner v. United States Department of the Navy, No. 80-3195 (D.D.C. April 27, 1981); Dearsman v. Kurtz, 516 F.Supp. 1255 (D.D.C.1981). However, those cases, as well as Brown, are significantly different from this case. The Title VII statutory remedy involved in Brown was specifically found by the Court to have provided an enhanced and integrated administrative and judicial remedy to replace the former problematic judicial cause of action for discrimination. Brawner and Dearsman involved tenured employees who had access to the adverse action procedure of 5 U.S.C. § 7701, as well as to the OSC, 5 U.S.C. § 1206. We do not here presume to rule on the issue of whether the CSRA appeal procedures culminating in judicial review for tenured employees are the exclusive means of relief. We decide only that the limited statutory remedy provided probationary employees, who have no appeal to the MSPB or to a judicial forum at all from an adverse personnel action or from an OSC decision not to prosecute, is not an adequate enough substitute for a prior judicial cause of action so that we can infer from the statute a Congressional desire to eliminate the preexisting right. Cf. Hodges v. Tomberlin, 510 F.Supp. 1280 (S.D.Geo.1980) (Railway Labor Act, § 152, does not preempt § 1983 relief); Brosnahan v. Eckerd, 435 F.Supp. 26 (D.D.C.1977) (damage action against private individuals not foreclosed by Title VII); Curran v. Portland Superintending School Committee, 435 F.Supp. 1063 (S.D.Maine 1977) (Equal Employment statute does not preempt § 1983 action).
The district court found-and the government argues alternatively on appeal-that Borrell failed to prove sufficiently that her discharge was caused by her first amendment activities rather than her poor work performance. The test for determining whether first amendment rights have been violated was set out by this court in Mazaleski v. Truesdell, 562 F.2d 701, 715 (D.C.Cir. 1977):
See also Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District, 439 U.S. 410, 99 S.Ct. 693, 58 L.Ed.2d 619 (1979); Mt. Healthy School Dist. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977). In a case quite similar to the instant case, Tygrett v. Barry, 627 F.2d 1279 (D.C.Cir.1980), involving a discharged probationary employee of the District of Columbia active in lobbying for passage of a bill increasing employee pay, who alleged that his discharge violated the first amendment, the court observed: "When confronted with firings that implicate a public employee's First Amendment rights, the courts are required to conduct an individualized and searching review of factors asserted by the employer to justify the discharge." 627 F.2d at 1282-83.
A court sitting without a jury is required by Rule 52(a) to "find the facts specifically and state separately its conclusions of law thereon ...." This mandate was not satisfied by the court's single statement of the ultimate fact. Cf. O'Neill v. United States, 411 F.2d 139, 146 (3d Cir. 1969) (The requirement of Rule 52(a) is not satisfied "by the statement of ultimate fact without the subordinate factual foundations for it which must be the subject of specific findings."); see also Foxtrap, Inc. v. Foxtrap, Inc., 671 F.2d 636 (D.C.Cir.1982); H. Prang Trucking Co., Inc. v. Local Union No. 469, 613 F.2d 1235, 1238-39 (3d Cir. 1980).
Appellant's claim under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g)(1)(C), was dismissed by the district court because the court found that challenged statements in appellant's personnel file were neither disseminated to outside persons nor concerned matters outside the scope of employment.
5 U.S.C. § 552a(g)(1)(C). Appellant requested the district court to enter a judgment finding that ICA officials "intentionally and willfully" violated the Privacy Act in that they maintained inaccurate files concerning her performance which resulted in her dismissal. She sought damages, costs and attorneys fees and a grant of "such other and further relief as may be just and equitable." A.A. A-33. Appellant now argues that the district court misconstrued her Privacy Act claim. Appellant says that she was not asserting an invasion of privacy claim; rather she was claiming that her personnel file contained inaccurate material on which subsequent adverse personnel actions were based. The government responds by stating:
It is not entirely clear to us whether the district court's decision to dismiss Borrell's Privacy Act claim was based upon shortcomings in Borrell's pleading and proof or upon a misunderstanding of her cause of action. In short, the district court's findings on the Privacy Act-as well as the constitutional claims-fall short of the specificity requirements of Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On remand, the district court should specify whether appellant satisfied her burden of pleading a prima facie claim under 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g), see Mervin v. Federal Trade Commission, 591 F.2d 821 (D.C.Cir.1978). If she did, the court should make specific findings about the accuracy and fairness of the challenged statements in Borrell's personnel file, and determine whether any inaccurate statement contained therein resulted in appellant's discharge. If so, the court should order the appropriate remedy under 5 U.S.C. §§ 552a(g)(2)(A) and (B) and 552a(g)(4), which may include costs, fees, damages and amendment of Borrell's record.
D. FOIA Claim
On appeal, Borrell urges that she "substantially prevailed" on her FOIA claim because a majority of the documents she sought access to were ultimately produced. She requests this court to enter a judgment that FOIA was violated and that she should be awarded attorneys' fees and other litigation costs pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(E); she asks the court to make a further finding that the agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously in withholding certain documents. Appellant's Brief at 13, 43 & 47. We find that the district court was correct in its determination that FOIA was not violated, and affirm the court's dismissal of this claim.
In the absence of a clear showing of congressional intent to do so, courts will not infer that the enactment of a particular statute containing provisions for judicial review has the effect of withdrawing from the courts their traditional equitable powers. Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136, 141, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 1511, 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967). This rule is related to the more general "doctrine disfavoring repeals by implication...." TVA v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153, 190, 98 S.Ct. 2279, 2299, 57 L.Ed.2d 117 (1978); Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 549, 94 S.Ct. 2474, 2482, 41 L.Ed.2d 290 (1974). We find no support for the argument that Congress intended to deprive district courts of their traditional power to prevent irreparable harm by providing for judicial review in another forum of final personnel actions and for limited temporary stays of administrative orders at the behest of an officer of the executive branch. Such a limitation on a long recognized power of the district courts could be found only in explicit language not present in the Reform Act.
Appellant also argues that the district court had jurisdiction over the statutory claim because it was "pendent" to her constitutional claim. Appellant's Brief at 30. But, as Judge Oberdorfer noted in Apodaca, slip op. at 4: "the exercise of ancillary jurisdiction presupposes a right enforceable in itself-that is, a separate cause of action cognizable in some court." See also Aldinger v. Howard, 427 U.S. 1, 18, 96 S.Ct. 2413, 2422, 49 L.Ed.2d 276 (1976)