Opinion ID: 197921
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Claims Against the United States

Text: 30 The claims against the United States stand on different footing. It is arguable that there may be jurisdiction under the Tucker Act or the Little Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2). 4 If so, then jurisdiction would lie in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and appellate jurisdiction in the Federal Circuit. But plaintiffs did not purport to rely on the Tucker Act, and have asserted colorable federal claims, and so, as the government has conceded, we have jurisdiction to consider this appeal. See Northeast Erectors Ass'n v. Secretary of Labor, 62 F.3d 37, 39 n. 1 (1st Cir.1995); Chabal v. Reagan, 822 F.2d 349, 355 (3d Cir.1987). 31 The district court, in a thoughtful opinion, dismissed the action against the United States because the statute of limitations had run. The United States urges us to affirm on this ground, but says that if we find that the statute has not run, we should transfer the case to the Court of Federal Claims and require plaintiffs to specify the amounts of their claims for Tucker Act purposes. Because we believe the statute of limitations issue is dispositive and because we have no wish to prolong this already aged dispute, we affirm on the grounds that the claim was not brought within the FLSA's two-year statute of limitations. It would not be in the interest of justice under 28 U.S.C. § 1631 to transfer a case clearly barred by the statute of limitations. We affirm largely on the basis of the decisions of the district court judge and the magistrate judge. We add a brief comment to respond to plaintiffs' argument on appeal that the statute of limitations was tolled while they exhausted the grievance process. 32 The Supreme Court has squarely held in Unexcelled Chem. Corp. v. United States, 345 U.S. 59, 73 S.Ct. 580, 97 L.Ed. 821 (1953) that the FLSA's statute of limitations is not subject to tolling on the basis of pending administrative proceedings. The plaintiffs say, in response, that Unexcelled predates the enactment of the CSRA and thus could not have anticipated the required negotiated grievance procedure in the CSRA. But nothing in the logic of the reasoning in Unexcelled is undercut by this argument and the Supreme Court has not since suggested any infirmity in its holding in Unexcelled.IV. 33 For these reasons, we affirm the dismissal of the action.