Opinion ID: 181765
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Text of the Regulation

Text: The Navy cannot be sued absent an express Congressional waiver of sovereign immunity. See United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 586, 61 S.Ct. 767, 85 L.Ed. 1058 (1941). Such waiver cannot be implied but must be unequivocally expressed. United States v. King, 395 U.S. 1, 4, 89 S.Ct. 1501, 23 L.Ed.2d 52 (1969). Furthermore, any legislative waiver of immunity must be strictly construed in favor of the sovereign and not enlarged beyond what the language requires. United States v. Nordic Vill., Inc., 503 U.S. 30, 34, 112 S.Ct. 1011, 117 L.Ed.2d 181 (1992) (internal alterations and quotations omitted); accord Dep't of Army v. Blue Fox, Inc., 525 U.S. 255, 261, 119 S.Ct. 687, 142 L.Ed.2d 718 (1999). Section 717 of Title VII protects federal employees and provides an express waiver of sovereign immunity in suits against the government for discriminatory employment practices. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5(f), 2000e-16. The EEOC is authorized to enforce the provisions of Section 717 and to issue rules and regulations as it deems necessary. Id. § 2000e-16(b); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1614.504 et seq. (EEOC regulations concerning the federal sector). Title VII and the EEOC's implementing regulations set forth specific administrative procedures that a complainant must first exhaust before gaining access to the federal courts on a discrimination complaint. The employer and employee may, however, choose instead to resolve the discrimination complaint voluntarily with a settlement agreement, see 29 C.F.R. § 1614.603, in which case the employee, as Munoz has done here, withdraws his formal complaint and foregoes his right to a civil appeal therefrom. 29 C.F.R. § 1614.504 prescribes the procedure for claiming a breach of that agreement, and it is this provision on which the question of jurisdiction hangs. To determine whether the district court had jurisdiction over the breach of settlement claim, we look first to the plain meaning of § 1614.504 because, [a]s a general interpretive principle, `the plain meaning of a regulation governs.' See Safe Air for Everyone v. EPA, 488 F.3d 1088, 1097 (9th Cir.2007) (quoting Wards Cove Packing Corp. v. Nat'l Marine Fisheries Serv., 307 F.3d 1214, 1219 (9th Cir. 2002)). 29 C.F.R. § 1614.504 allows an employee alleging noncompliance to choose between two exclusive remedies, namely specific performance or reinstatement of the original discrimination complaint. [4] 29 C.F.R. § 1614.504(a). The regulation further provides that the EEOC is limited to awarding one of these two remedies upon determining that a breach has occurred. Id. § 1614.504(c). On its face, the regulation is silent as to whether an employee may proceed to federal court after receiving an adverse EEOC determination. Because any waiver of sovereign immunity must be unequivocally expressed, this silence counsels against a finding of jurisdiction. But the text of § 1614.504(a) does not end the matter. Had Munoz chosen to reinstate his underlying discrimination complaint instead of seeking specific performance, his claim could eventually have been heard in federal court after exhausting administrative procedures, even though § 1614.504 is silent as to that possibility. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5(f)-(k), 2000e-16(c)-(d). The district court held that other sections of the EEOC's regulations likewise provide an unambiguous path to federal jurisdiction when a complainant elects to seek specific performance. We thus consider whether those surrounding regulations include a waiver of the government's sovereign immunity that allows the exercise of jurisdiction over Munoz's breach of settlement agreement claim.