Opinion ID: 397847
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Performance Rating as Providing the Exclusive Remedy

Text: 12 Lawrence argues that dismissal of his section 1985(1) complaint cannot be based on the exclusivity of a Performance Rating Act remedy, which permitted agency employees to appeal performance ratings (including ratings of satisfactory) and authorizes the reviewing board to make such change as it considers proper. 5 U.S.C. § 4305(c), (d) (1976). 4 Lawrence notes that section 1985(1) promotes different policies, involves different elements of proof, and provides for judicial trial and a distinct form of relief-damages-than does the remedy under the Performance Act. Defendants do not argue to the contrary. We agree with Lawrence that Congress did not pre-empt a section 1985(1) action (assuming one might lie in these circumstances) with the limited remedy it provides under the Performance Rating Act. A performance evaluation may be one element of an actionable conspiracy, but that does not mean that the Performance Rating Act provides the exclusive remedy for damages resulting from the evaluation, even if the statute of limitation limits the conspiracy action's damage claim to the evaluation itself. See generally Fitzgerald v. Seamans, 553 F.2d 220, 226-27 (D.C.Cir.1977) (discharged federal employee's civil service and tort-civil rights remedies were independent); Churchwell v. United States, 545 F.2d 59, 61 (8th Cir. 1976) (plaintiff not limited to Privacy Act claim when pursuing damages under Fifth Amendment). 13 Whether the availability of the remedies under the Performance Rating Act grafts an exhaustion requirement onto any section 1985(1) action based on a performance evaluation is another question. 5 Defendants do not rely on any failure to exhaust, however, and Lawrence arguably fulfilled the purpose of an exhaustion requirement when he protested the below average marks he received in Part I of his evaluation, for defendant Dickerson soon thereafter declared Part I of the evaluation invalid. See App. at 78. Lawrence thus achieved through his informal grievance what he might have achieved through a formal appeal under the Performance Rating Act. 14