Opinion ID: 1345338
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Retrospective Relief

Text: Ms. Golinski has requested an award under the Back Pay Act. 5 U.S.C. §§ 5595 et seq. This court's EDR plan provides that relief under the Back Pay Act is available, EDR Plan at 9-10; see Dotson v. Griesa, 398 F.3d 156, 175 (2d Cir. 2005); Blankenship v. McDonald, 176 F.3d 1192, 1195 (9th Cir. 1999), and I must resolve any claim for such relief in the first instance. EDR Plan at 3. There's no doubt the Act entitles judicial employees to back pay, 5 U.S.C. § 5596(a)(2), but I am aware of no prior determination as to what showing they must make to receive an award. [2] I conclude they must prove three things: (1) there has been a personnel action; that (2) is unjustified or unwarranted; and (3) results in a withdrawal or reduction of all or part of [the employee's] pay, allowances, or differentials. Id. § 5596(b)(1). 1. The Back Pay Act defines a personnel action to include the omission or failure to take an action to confer a benefit. Id. § 5596(b)(5). It also covers a decision concerning pay [or] benefits. Id. § 2302(a)(2)(A)(ix). Refusing to provide Ms. Golinski with health insurance for her wife satisfies either definition. 2. I find OPM's definition of the phrase unjustified or unwarranted personnel action persuasive. For purposes of this court's EDR plan I therefore define that phrase to mean: [A]n act of commission or an act of omission (i.e., failure to take an action or confer a benefit) that an appropriate authority subsequently determines, on the basis of substantive or procedural defects, to have been unjustified or unwarranted under applicable law, Executive order, rule, regulation, or mandatory personnel policy established by an agency or through a collective bargaining agreement. Such actions include personnel actions and pay actions (alone or in combination). 5 C.F.R. § 550.803. The agency here is the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 5 U.S.C. § 5596(a)(2); 28 U.S.C. § 610, and I conclude that denying an employee a benefit based on her sex or sexual orientation violates one of our mandatory personnel policies. See EDR Plan at 2. 3. I also find OPM's definition of pay, allowances, and differentials persuasive. I therefore determine that the Act covers pay, leave, and other monetary employment benefits to which an employee is entitled by statute or regulation and which are payable by the employing agency to an employee during periods of Federal employment. 5 C.F.R. § 550.803. The commentary to that regulation says it includes benefits received under the Federal employee health benefits and group life insurance programs, 46 Fed. Reg. 58,271, 58,272 (Dec. 1, 1981), so I conclude spousal health insurance benefits qualify. As Ms. Golinski has been denied the benefit of insuring her wife, Amy Cunninghis, her pay, allowances, [or] differentials have been withdraw[n] or reduc[ed]. [3] 4. Based on the above, I conclude Ms. Golinski is entitled to an award under the Back Pay Act, and I refer this matter to the Appellate Commissioner to determine its amount. W ithin 70 days the Commissioner shall forward to me, with copies to the parties, a report and recommendation as to the award I should enter (including attorneys' fees and any other monetary award to which Ms. Golinski may be entitled under the Act). Because Ms. Golinski has already waited too long for relief, I wish to avoid the need for additional proceedings to determine the amount of her award. I therefore offer the Commissioner the following guidance: Compensatory damages aren't recoverable under this court's EDR plan, EDR Plan at 10, so Ms. Golinski is entitled only to an award equal in amount to the benefits she would have received, but has been denied, under the FEHBP, regardless of whether she's spent more (or less) on insurance in the interim. I determine the relevant measure of those benefits to be the cost of obtaining comparable private insurance for her wife, see 5 U.S.C. § 5596(b)(1)(A)(i), which the Commissioner should calculate on a monthly basis for the relevant period(s) of time.