Opinion ID: 3177023
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reemployment Claim

Text: USERRA also provides service members protection in the form of a right to reemployment in their civilian jobs after completing their military obligations. 38 U.S.C. § 4312(a). The regulations further provide that an agency “must consider employees absent on military duty for any incident or advantage of employment that they may have been entitled to had they not been absent.” 5 C.F.R. § 353.106(c). The agency must therefore evaluate whether: 18 HAYDEN v. AIR FORCE (1) “the ‘incident or advantage’ is one generally granted to all employees in that workplace and whether it was denied solely because of absence for military service;” (2) “the person absent on military duty was treat- ed the same as if the person had remained at work;” and (3) “it was reasonably certain that the benefit would have accrued to the employee but for the absence for military service.” Id. The Board concluded that Hayden was not entitled to reemployment at the GS-12 level when he returned from military leave. First, the Board found that Hayden could not establish that a position upgrade is a benefit generally granted to all agency employees. Final Decision, 2014 WL 6879135, at ¶ 28. In reaching this conclusion, the Board explained, “[a]n example of a ‘generally granted’ benefit of employment is a within-grade increase, which is granted when an employee performing at the fully satisfactory level or better accrues a certain amount of time-in-grade.” Id. According to Hayden, even if the position upgrade was not “an incident or advantage generally granted to all employees, as found by the MSPB, consideration for a position upgrade is available to all employees.” Pet’r Br. 29-30. In support, Hayden argues that the agency “promoted another GS-11 Protocol Office employee, one who was not serving in the military, to a GS-12 position.” Id. at 30. The evidence Hayden cites does not establish that the agency failed to consider him for an upgrade, however. The agency explains, moreover, that the employee who was promoted had a position with a full performance level of GS-12, which meant that it was a personal, noncompetitive promotion, not a position upgrade. Importantly, HAYDEN v. AIR FORCE 19 there is no evidence that all employees are considered for position upgrades beyond their current performance levels. Next, because the A Flight Protocol Office lost its additional duties four months after the upgrade request, and after the B Flight Protocol Office placed two GS-12 protocol officers on surplus status, the Board could not determine what would have happened if Hayden had remained at work. Id. ¶ 29. It concluded, however, that it was not “reasonably certain” that Hayden would have received the upgrade. Although Hayden was a valued employee with outstanding performance ratings, the Board found that “he and another employee were in GS11 positions at the full performance level, unlike the employee who was promoted to GS-12.” Id. at ¶ 31. The Board further noted that Hayden’s performance “suffered after his return, which the agency documented,” but that it was still willing to promote him if a GS-12 position became available. Id. On appeal, Hayden argues that the upgrade was “reasonably certain” given: (1) testimony from the position classifier that she was aware of only ten upgrade requests out of the hundreds that she had processed that were not granted; (2) his outstanding performance reviews; (3) his prior upgrade from GS-9 to GS-11; and (4) the fact that he was already performing GS-12 duties. Although Hayden disagrees with the Board’s factfindings, we decline his invitation to reweigh the facts on appeal. Substantial evidence supports the Board’s determination that the position upgrade is not a generally granted benefit and that it was not reasonably certain that Hayden would have received it, a showing that, in this context, was Hayden’s burden to make. As such, we affirm the Board’s decision with respect to Hayden’s reemployment claim. 20 HAYDEN v. AIR FORCE