Opinion ID: 783068
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Count 67: The Methods Team Specialist (Plant Operations) Position

Text: 41 Next, Plaintiff challenges the dismissal of his claim concerning his non-selection for the Methods Team Specialist (Plant Operations) position. In dismissing the claim, the district court concluded that the claim was time-barred and that equitable tolling did not apply. Plaintiff acknowledges on appeal that he filed suit late on this claim, but he contends that he was entitled to maintain the suit based on equitable tolling principles. We agree with Plaintiff and therefore reverse the district court's dismissal of this claim. 42 The facts demonstrate that on November 22, 1997 Plaintiff filed an EEO complaint regarding his non-selection for this position. On December 9, 1997, TVA's EOC organization issued a final agency decision (FAD), dismissing Plaintiff's EEO complaint on the grounds that the Methods Team Specialist position had not been filled. Plaintiff received the FAD, which was sent via certified mail, on December 19, 1997, but he did not file a claim regarding this non-selection in federal court until November 17, 1999. 43 In the course of preparing a pre-complaint counseling report (PCCR), Lynn Talley, Manager of Counseling and Analysis in TVA's EOC organization, asked TVA's human resources department about the status of the job vacancy. The human resources department responded by letter dated December 5, 1997, stating the following: 44 Management made a decision not to fill the PG-8 position but to utilize the headcount and budget to further develop a current employee in preparation for a site position. Mr. Albert J. Salatka was rotated into this position at the PG-5 level for the purpose of development. Once this developmental process is complete, Mr. Salatka will no longer occupy the headcount in the Process Methods organization. Management will then make a decision as to whether or not to fill the PG-8 position. 45 As indicated above, the position ... has not been filled; therefore, no selection has been made. If the position is to be filled in the future, it will be re-posted and the selection process completed. 46 (J.A. at 737.) The FAD indicated that no one was selected for this position, that applications ... were never reviewed nor any qualifications of candidates ever compared, and that Plaintiff's allegation of discrimination was therefore premature. (J.A. at 201.) Although the FAD mentioned the December 5, 1997 letter from TVA's human resources department, it did not mention the letter's explanation to the effect that Salatka had been rotated into the position for developmental purposes. 47 Plaintiff argues that he was entitled to equitable tolling because TVA purposely withheld the critical information that Salatka, a white man, had been given the job, and that had Plaintiff known this information he would have filed a lawsuit with regard to that non-selection in a timely fashion. TVA insists that it did not mislead Plaintiff because the job position had not been filled, and that the decision to rotate Salatka into the position was in the December 5, 1997 letter, of which the FAD made Plaintiff aware. Thus, TVA argues, Plaintiff failed to discover that Salatka was carrying out the duties of the position because of his own lack of due diligence. The district court agreed with TVA's interpretation of the facts and declined to apply equitable tolling. 48 A Title VII plaintiff ordinarily must file a civil action within ninety days of receiving a notice of dismissal and right to sue from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1). However, because this requirement is not jurisdictional, a court may apply equitable tolling, which `permits a plaintiff to avoid the bar of the statute of limitations if despite all due diligence he is unable to obtain vital information bearing on the existence of his claim.' EEOC v. Ky. State Police Dep't, 80 F.3d 1086, 1095 (6th Cir.1996) (quoting Cada v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 920 F.2d 446, 451 (7th Cir.1990)). We review a district court's decision to grant or deny equitable tolling de novo when the facts are undisputed or the district court rules, as a matter of law, that equitable tolling is not available; in all other circumstances we review for an abuse of discretion. Amini v. Oberlin Coll., 259 F.3d 493, 498 (6th Cir.2001) (quoting Dunlap v. United States, 250 F.3d 1001, 1007 n. 2 (6th Cir.2001)). 49 Because the parties dispute some of the facts, we review the district court's denial for an abuse of discretion. Id. We consider five factors in determining whether equitable tolling should be allowed: 1) lack of notice of the filing requirement; 2) lack of constructive knowledge of the filing requirement; 3) diligence in pursuing one's rights; 4) absence of prejudice to the defendant; and 5) the plaintiff's reasonableness [in] remaining ignorant of the particular legal requirement. Truitt v. County of Wayne, 148 F.3d 644, 648 (6th Cir.1998) (citing Andrews v. Orr, 851 F.2d 146, 151 (6th Cir.1988)). Regarding the third factor, a plaintiff must demonstrate facts showing his or her diligence in pursuing the claim. See Morgan v. Washington Mfg. Co., 660 F.2d 710, 712 (6th Cir.1981). However, these factors are not exclusive bases upon which to apply equitable tolling; thus, the decision to equitably toll the limitations period is made on a case-by-base basis. Truitt, 148 F.3d at 648. A district court need not find that the employer willfully engaged in wrongful conduct to allow equitable tolling. See Andrews, 851 F.2d at 151. Nevertheless, the doctrine of equitable tolling is restricted and to be carefully applied. Id. (citations omitted). 50 We find that the district court did abuse its discretion in declining to extend equitable tolling to Plaintiff. In this case, the FAD informed Plaintiff that no one received the job and no applications were reviewed, but it omitted the additional information that Salatka was performing the job duties for developmental purposes. This was the critical information Plaintiff needed to raise his suspicions about TVA's possible racially discriminatory motive in rejecting him. Although the FAD referenced the December 5, 1997 letter that mentioned Salatka's selection, the reality remains that the explanation in the FAD was misleading. It implied that nobody took on the job responsibilities, when in fact TVA placed Salatka in the position, albeit at his current PG-5, rather than PG-8, level. Plaintiff, in reliance, did not pursue his EEO complaint for this non-selection. Because the explanation in the FAD misrepresented the circumstances surrounding the non-selection, Plaintiff did not need to request a copy of the December 5, 1997 letter to be reasonably diligent. We therefore hold that equitable tolling should have been granted and that the district court abused its discretion in holding otherwise. Because neither of the parties discuss the underlying merits of this non-selection claim on appeal, we remand Count 67 to the district court for further consideration of the claim's merits. IV 51 Plaintiff also challenges his RIF, asserting various theories under which the RIF was wrongful. We address each of his claims in connection with the RIF below. A. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies 52 Before addressing the merits of these claims, however, we turn our attention to the district court's dismissal of Counts 126, 127, and 131 on procedural grounds. In so dismissing, the district court stated that Plaintiff had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. On appeal, Plaintiff argues that he did comply with the administrative provisions for mixed case complaints by waiting the requisite period of time after filing an EEO complaint before initiating a civil action in the district court. 53 We agree with Plaintiff. A mixed case complaint is a complaint of employment discrimination filed with a federal agency based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or handicap related to or stemming from an action that can be appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). 29 C.F.R. § 1614.302(a)(1). A mixed case complaint may be filed with the employer-agency's EEO process (pursuant to 29 C.F.R. § 1614.302) or with the MSPB (pursuant to 5 C.F.R. § 1201.151), but not with both. Id. § 1614.302(b). If the mixed case complaint is filed with the federal agent's EEO process and a FAD is not issued within 120 days of the date of filing, the complainant may appeal the matter to the MSPB at any time thereafter as specified at 5 C.F.R. 1201.154(b)(2) or may file a civil action as specified at § 1614.310(g), but not both. Id. § 1614.302(d)(1)(i); see also 5 U.S.C. § 7702(a)(2) (noting that an agency decision on a mixed case complaint shall be a judicially reviewable action unless the employee appeals the matter to the [MSPB]). It is not disputed that Plaintiff had a mixed case, that he filed a mixed case complaint through TVA's EEO process, that a FAD was not issued within 120 days, and that Plaintiff thereafter filed a civil action in the district court. 54 TVA argues on appeal that after TVA failed to issue the FAD within 120 days, Plaintiff was required to appeal the action to the MSPB and develop an administrative record for the district court to review. TVA's argument is two-fold. First, it notes that Plaintiff, subsequent to filing his civil action, abandoned his claims of discrimination regarding the RIF. TVA argues that once Plaintiff abandoned the discrimination claims, his mixed case complaint ceased and the district court lost jurisdiction over the nondiscrimination claims. For this argument TVA relies on the following text from Noble v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 892 F.2d 1013 (Fed.Cir.1989) ( en banc ): 55 In this court, Noble has abandoned his discrimination claims, instead basing his petition solely on the failure of the MSPB to require the TVA to honor his reemployment rights under the [Veterans Preference Act]. Accordingly, this is no longer a mixed case and jurisdiction over this matter lies, if at all, in this court. 56 Id. at 1014. TVA asserts that Plaintiff instead should have brought his nondiscrimination claims regarding his RIF to the MSPB and then sought judicial review, if necessary, with the Federal Circuit, where exclusive jurisdiction ostensibly lies in this situation. 57 TVA is mistaken. Noble does not stand for the proposition that jurisdiction lies only in the Federal Circuit when a mixed case complaint already brought into a federal district court later abandons its discrimination component. Rather, the quoted excerpt from Noble was referring to the fact that the Federal Circuit lacks jurisdiction to consider mixed case complaints. See id. at 1014; see also Williams v. Dep't of Army, 715 F.2d 1485, 1487 (Fed.Cir.1983) ( en banc ). Thus, the Noble court was essentially insuring that it had jurisdiction over the appeal before it. And while it is true that the Federal Circuit has exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from the MSPB's final decisions as to non-mixed case complaints, 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9), the present action was not appealed from the MSPB; it was appealed from the EEO process. Thus, Noble does not control the issue at hand. 58 A review of 29 C.F.R. § 1614.302(a)(1) and (d)(1)(i) establishes that a plaintiff may properly bring a mixed case complaint through an employer-agency's EEO process, and then, if the agency takes no action within 120 days, bring the mixed case complaint to the district court. The language of these regulations indicates nothing to the contrary. 59 Our view is bolstered by cases from other circuits that have considered what happens when a mixed case complaint, properly appealed to the district court from the MSPB, subsequently loses its discrimination component. The D.C. Circuit declined to hold that the subsequent dismissal of the discrimination portion of a mixed case complaint vitiated the district court's subject matter jurisdiction, reasoning that jurisdiction properly existed at the time the mixed case complaint was filed with the district court and that no statutory authority exists suggest[ing] that the jurisdiction thereby conferred on the district court dissolves upon dismissal of one claim where original jurisdiction otherwise properly exists. Evono v. Reno, 216 F.3d 1105, 1109 (D.C.Cir.2000). In considering similar procedural facts, the Fourth Circuit held that a nondiscrimination claim should not be dismissed under these circumstances, so long as the discrimination claim was not a sham or frivolous, and that the district court had the discretion either to retain the case or to transfer it to the Federal Circuit, which had attained jurisdiction by virtue of the discrimination claim's subsequent elimination. Afifi v. United States Dep't of Interior, 924 F.2d 61, 63-64 (4th Cir.1991). 60 Unlike Afifi, this case presents no opportunity for a transfer to the Federal Circuit, because it originated from the EEO process, not the MSPB. However, the reasoning is directly on point: A plaintiff ordinarily should not be punished (by way of dismissal) for events unforeseen at the time the case was filed. Moreover, at no time has either party or the district court suggested that the discrimination claim Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed was a sham or frivolous. Id. at 64. 61 TVA also argues that even if subject matter jurisdiction existed, Plaintiff waived his rights to pursue Counts 126, 127, and 131 because he voluntarily abandoned the discrimination components of these claims and consequently failed to develop an administrative record at the MSPB. TVA's rationale is that while Title VII claims are reviewed by the district court de novo, procedural claims are reviewable only on the record, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 7703(c), the statute controlling MSPB procedure. 62 We disagree. On-the-record review is required for nondiscrimination claims only if the mixed case complaint is appealed from the MSPB. In contrast, a mixed case complaint from an agency's EEO process, on judicial review at a district court, is reviewed de novo. This can be found right in the statutory language regarding appeals: Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the right to trial de novo under any provision of law described in subsection (a)(1) of this section after a judicially reviewable action, including the decision of an agency under subsection (a)(2) of this section.  5 U.S.C. § 7702(e)(3) (emphasis added). Subsection (a)(2) refers to any matter before an agency which involves (A) any action described in paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection [i.e., an action which the employee or applicant may appeal to the MSPB]; and (B) any issue of discrimination prohibited under any provision of law described in paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection. 5 U.S.C. § 7702(a)(2). In other words, subsection (a)(2) refers to any cause of action encompassing an MSPB claim and a discrimination claim. It refers to a mixed claim. If a district court may analyze the MSPB issues de novo when a mixed case complaint is appealed from an agency's EEO process, the subsequent abandonment of the discrimination claim in the district court cannot make the necessity for an administrative record suddenly appear. TVA cannot point to any statutory authority to indicate that a plaintiff is to be disadvantaged in retrospect for abandoning a claim after initially pursuing the claim in district court, or that nondiscrimination claims must always be reviewed on an administrative record. 3 63 Thus, we hold that subject matter jurisdiction exists over these nondiscrimination claims. Moreover, Plaintiff was not required to develop an administrative record with respect to his nondiscrimination claims because claims, when appealed from an agency's EEO process, are reviewed de novo. Consequently, Plaintiff did not waive any right to have his nondiscrimination claim heard by the district court, and the district court erred in ruling otherwise. We therefore will address the merits of those decisions now. 64 B. Count 123 — Violation of TVA's Hiring and Retention Policy for Disabled Veterans 65 Plaintiff argues that the district court erred in dismissing his challenge to enforce TVA's hiring and retention policy for disabled veterans. The policy reads as follows: 66 The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has an up-to-date Affirmative Action Plan (Plan) that is committed to the hiring, retention, and advancement of disabled veterans. This Plan is consistent with statutory requirements under Title 38 U.S.C., Section 2015(c), included as part of TVA's affirmative action obligations for the disabled under Section 501(b) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. TVA is committed to ensuring affirmative action for the employment and advancement of qualified disabled veterans, especially those veterans who are rated at 30 percent or more disabled. No individual may be denied employment, developmental opportunities, or advancement, nor may disciplinary action be taken against him/her solely because of physical or mental disability. This commitment to employ, retain, and advance qualified disabled veterans shall apply to all supervisors, managers, and other officials in a position to influence personnel policies/practices. 67 (J.A. at 426.) The district court held that no private cause of action existed for Plaintiff to enforce a corporately-adopted plan. Plaintiff argues on appeal that because TVA's policy is federally mandated, a private cause of action exists to enforce the affirmative action benefits contained therein. Specifically, Plaintiff points to § 501(b) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 791(b), which requires federal employers to adopt an affirmative action policy for the hiring, placement, and advancement of disabled individuals, and § 403(c) of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRA), 38 U.S.C. § 4214(c), which requires employers who enter into certain contracts with the United States to adopt a separate specification of plans ... to promote and carry out such affirmative action with respect to disabled veterans in order to achieve the purpose of this section. 68 As an initial matter, it is not entirely clear whether this policy to which Plaintiff points is federally mandated. Although the parties agree that TVA is subject to § 501 of the Rehabilitation Act and § 403 of VEVRA, TVA maintains that the policy is voluntary and that there exists a separate specification under its Rehabilitation Act-mandated policy. However, TVA fails to point to anything in the record that would constitute the separate specification that VEVRA requires. At any rate, we need not decide this issue because even if this policy is the VEVRA-required separate specification, no private remedy exists. We have already held that VEVRA does not extend a private cause of action to aggrieved veterans such as Plaintiff. Harris v. Adams, 873 F.2d 929, 932 (6th Cir.1989). Although Plaintiff argues that not allowing a private right of action would render § 4214 meaningless, this is not the case. As we previously explained, veterans who believe themselves to be victims of discrimination may complain to the Secretary of Labor, who enforces [VEVRA] administratively. Id. at 931 (citing predecessor to 38 U.S.C. § 4212(b)). 69 Plaintiff contends alternatively that the Rehabilitation Act provides a private remedy. However, the Rehabilitation Act does not require an affirmative action policy for disabled veterans. Section 501 of the Act requires each federal agency to submit an affirmative action program plan for the hiring, placement, and advancement of individuals with disabilities in such department, agency, instrumentality, or Institution. 29 U.S.C. § 791(b). To this end, § 501 provides a private remedy for individuals who encounter discrimination on the basis of disability. Mahon v. Crowell, 295 F.3d 585, 589 n. 2 (6th Cir.2002). However, we do not read the Rehabilitation Act as extending its private remedy to the rights contained in VEVRA. The only nexus between the Rehabilitation Act and VEVRA is that VEVRA requires a separate specification for disabled veterans to be included in the Rehabilitation Act-required affirmative action policy for disabled individuals. The fact that VEVRA references the Rehabilitation Act for this purpose does not mean it implicitly incorporates all rights contained in the Rehabilitation Act into VEVRA. See Antol v. Perry, 82 F.3d 1291, 1297 (3d Cir.1996) (rejecting the plaintiff's argument that Congress' amendment of the Rehabilitation Act to waive sovereign immunity and include a private remedy for aggrieved disabled individuals meant that § 403 of VEVRA was also implicitly amended, and reasoning that it could not enlarge the waiver [of sovereign immunity] in the Rehabilitation Act `beyond what the language of the statute requires') (quoting United States v. Idaho ex rel. Dir., Idaho Dep't of Water Res., 508 U.S. 1, 7, 113 S.Ct. 1893, 123 L.Ed.2d 563 (1993)). Therefore, no private remedy exists for Plaintiff on this issue. 4 70 C. Count 125: Violation of Supplementary Agreement 10 to the Collective Bargaining Agreement 71 Next, Plaintiff challenges the district court's dismissal of Count 125 of his amended complaint, which alleged that TVA violated his reemployment RIF rights under its own policy for displaced policy veterans, namely, a document known as Supplementary Agreement 10, which is part of the collective bargaining agreement between TVA and the union representing TVA's employees. Specifically, Supplementary Agreement 10 governs the elimination of positions and termination of employees through a[RIF]. (J.A. at 392, 394-404.) It provides to RIF'd employees an opportunity to be placed on a reemployment list for up to two years following termination for jobs for which the employee indicates interest and availability at the time of separation and which are in the same classes as jobs he/she has held in TVA. (J.A. at 397.) The Supplementary Agreement also includes a veterans' preference in rehiring. 72 It does not appear to be disputed that Plaintiff received his veterans' preference regarding the RIF; i.e., among the employees in his work group, he was the last to be subjected to the RIF, but because the entire department was eliminated, he, as well as his coworkers, was RIF'd. Plaintiff contends, however, that TVA did not follow Supplementary Agreement 10 with respect to rehiring preferences. Plaintiff notes that his colleague Ronald Stamps, another Safety Specialist in the Labor and Safety department who was terminated at the same time as Plaintiff, subsequently received a position that became available. Plaintiff contends that Stamps' rehire contravened Supplementary Agreement 10, which required TVA to offer the job to Plaintiff first. Plaintiff also contends that pursuant to Supplementary Agreement 10, he should have been offered positions less senior to the one he held at the time of his RIF. Plaintiff was ranked SD-4 at the time of his RIF, and he had previously been employed in the SD-3 classification. Plaintiff claims TVA violated Supplementary Agreement 10 by failing to offer him a reassignment to any of the available SD-3 positions or reemployment to those positions after his termination. 73 Because Plaintiff did not follow the grievance procedure for alleged contractual violations, the district court dismissed this claim for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. TVA asserts the district court's reasoning on appeal. Plaintiff argues that he was not required to follow the grievance procedure because TVA had adopted Supplementary Agreement 10 as its corporate policy, and therefore the collective bargaining agreement grievance procedures did not apply. However, the record reflects no evidence that TVA adopted Supplementary Agreement 10 as its corporate policy, and we will not make this finding now. 74 Plaintiff argues alternatively that Supplementary Agreement 11 of the collective bargaining agreement allows claimants to bypass the grievance procedure. Supplementary Agreement 11 provides that [i]f an appeal or formal complaint with respect to an action, matter, or proposed action is or has been filed under a separate procedure provided by law or Federal regulations, a grievance regarding such action, matter, or proposed action will not be considered or, if in progress, will not be further considered or decided under this agreement. (J.A. at 403-04.) Plaintiff argues that because he placed his grievance about Supplementary Agreement 10 in his mixed case complaint filed through TVA's EEO process, he could not simultaneously pursue the complaint through the collective bargaining agreement grievance process. We agree with Plaintiff that he pursued a legitimate alternative route, based on the language in Supplementary Agreement 11.
75 Turning our attention to the merits, Plaintiff's claim to reemployment rights fails. The reemployment list policy enables a RIF'd employee to have his or her name placed on the list for two years for jobs for which the employee indicates interest and availability at the time of separation and which are in the same classes as jobs he/she has held in TVA. (J.A. at 397.) Plaintiff completed an Interest and Availability for Reemployment Following RIF form; however, he listed among the job classifications and grades for which he wished to be considered only Safety Specialist, SD-4 grade. Plaintiff did not indicate a desire to be considered for any SD-3 positions. Therefore, Ronald Stamps, who indeed was RIF'd on the same day as Plaintiff and retained a lower preference than Plaintiff, received the position at issue because the position for which he was rehired was of the SD-3 grade and Plaintiff did not request to be considered for this type of job. Therefore, this claim lacks merit.
76 However, there does appear to be a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Plaintiff was afforded his reassignment rights pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement. Supplementary Agreement 10 provides that a RIF'd employee with at least ten years of service may displace another employee in the same competitive area, but in a different competitive level, by application of reduction in force procedures. (J.A. at 397.) Thus, applicable RIF'd employees may be reassigned to any available lower-grade position they have held on a non-temporary basis. Such employees are placed on a retention register, which lists the grade levels for which each employee is eligible and states whether positions in those grade levels are available. 77 Among those listed in the Retention Register was Plaintiff, who was designated RR [Return Rights to] Safety Specialist, SD-3 (No position available). (J.A. at 1160.) The record indicates that Plaintiff had served in positions of the grade levels SD-2, SD-3, SE-3, and SE-4. Deposition testimony from Jimmy Raines, General Manager of Human Resources at TVA, acknowledged that at least one SD-3 position was available but was not listed on the retention register. TVA offers no explanation for the discrepancy, but presumably Plaintiff (or one of his colleagues of comparable or greater preference) should have been offered the opportunity to be reassigned to the lower level position, and this evidently did not happen. A good explanation for the discrepancy still might exist; however, we find that a genuine issue of material fact remains as to whether TVA provided to Plaintiff his reassignment rights pursuant to Supplementary Agreement 10 of TVA's collective bargaining agreement. Therefore, we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of TVA on this claim with respect to Plaintiff's reassignment rights. 78