Opinion ID: 555145
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Exclusivity of Remedies under the CSRA

Text: 8 The Riveras' complaint asserts claims pursuant to both the Constitution, see Bivens, and the FTCA. It is clear that the district court acted properly in dismissing the former claims. The courts lack subject matter jurisdiction to hear constitutional damage claims against the United States, because the United States has not waived sovereign immunity with respect to such claims. See, e.g., Clemente v. United States, 766 F.2d 1358, 1363 (9th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1101, 106 S.Ct. 881, 88 L.Ed.2d 917 (1986). In fact, the Bivens claims would fail even if the Riveras had named Hokanson or other individual defendants in their complaint. We have held that where, as in the CSRA, Congress has designed a program that provides what it considers adequate remedial mechanisms for constitutional violations, Bivens actions should not be implied. Kotarski v. Cooper, 866 F.2d 311, 312 (9th Cir.1989). 9 It is less clear whether, at the time Mary Rivera suffered the reprisals of Hokanson, such conduct was actionable under the FTCA. The United States asserts that the administrative procedures of the CSRA preclude the alternative remedy of suing under the FTCA. While the Supreme Court has not directly considered the relationship between the CSRA and the FTCA, in two cases the Court has expounded on the comprehensive nature of the remedial scheme embodied in the CSRA and held that the scheme precludes other types of remedies. In Bush v. Lucas, 462 U.S. 367, 388, 103 S.Ct. 2404, 2417, 76 L.Ed.2d 648 (1983), the Court held that the CSRA precluded a first amendment Bivens claim, describing the CSRA as an elaborate remedial system that has been constructed step by step, with careful attention to conflicting policy considerations. More recently, in United States v. Fausto, 484 U.S. 439, 108 S.Ct. 668, 98 L.Ed.2d 830 (1988), the Court held that the CSRA precluded a government employee's suit for backpay brought in the United States Claims Court pursuant to the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1491 (1988). The Court emphasized that the CSRA represents an integrated scheme of administrative and judicial review, designed to balance the legitimate interests of the various categories of federal employees with the needs of sound and efficient administration. 484 U.S. at 445, 108 S.Ct. at 672. In Bush and Fausto, the Court essentially has sought to preserve this balance by refusing to recognize alternative remedies for government employees whose grievances fall within the scope of the CSRA. 10 Our circuit has echoed these conclusions about the comprehensive nature of the CSRA scheme. In Kotarski, 866 F.2d at 312, we found that the CSRA precluded the alternative remedy of a first amendment Bivens claim. In Lehman v. Morrissey, 779 F.2d 526 (9th Cir.1985), we held that the CSRA preempted a Forest Service employee's common law tort claims, precluded federal court review of her claims, and represented her sole recourse. We noted that in enacting the C.S.R.A. Congress meant to limit the remedies of federal employees bringing claims closely intertwined with their conditions of employment to those remedies provided in the statute. Id. at 527-28. Because it is unclear whether the FTCA claim against the United States in Lehman was at issue on appeal, Lehman cannot strictly control our decision here. Nevertheless, the clear thrust of Bush, Fausto, Kotarski, and Lehman is that Congress's purpose in enacting the CSRA was to channel grievances and disputes arising out of government employment into a single system of administrative procedures and remedies, subject to judicial review. To permit FTCA claims to supplant the CSRA's remedial scheme certainly would defeat that purpose. 11 Finally, we note that the only court of appeals to address directly the question of whether the CSRA precludes suit under the FTCA found that it does. In Premachandra v. United States, 739 F.2d 392 (8th Cir.1984), the Eighth Circuit held that a government physician could not sue the United States for the mental anguish and economic losses he suffered upon his discharge. In finding that Congress intended the CSRA to preclude relief under the FTCA, the court relied heavily on the principle that a precisely drawn, detailed statute pre-empts more general remedies. Id. at 394 (quoting Brown v. GSA, 425 U.S. 820, 834, 96 S.Ct. 1961, 1968, 48 L.Ed.2d 402 (1976)). As the Premachandra court put it: 12 Had Congress intended for [federal employment] decisions to be reviewable in district courts in the context of actions under the Federal Tort Claims Act, it would not have so precisely defined the civil service remedy. 13 739 F.2d at 394. Against the backdrop of Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedent emphasizing the comprehensive, integrated nature of the remedial system provided by the CSRA, we are persuaded by the reasoning in Premachandra. 14 We hold that at the time Mary Rivera was subjected to retaliatory harassment by Hokanson, her remedy was through the CSRA, not the FTCA. 4