Opinion ID: 789247
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Dotson's Equitable Claims Are Precluded by the CSRA

Text: 98 The circuits are divided as to whether equitable relief such as reinstatement is available to federal employees notwithstanding their general agreement that the CSRA precludes Bivens claims for damages. The First, Fourth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits have concluded from the comprehensive nature of the CSRA that Congress did not intend for federal employees to pursue supplemental judicial relief, even in equity, for classic employment disputes. See Saul v. United States, 928 F.2d at 843 [9th Cir.] Stephens v. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 901 F.2d 1571, 1575-77 (11th Cir.1990); Lombardi v. Small Bus. Admin., 889 F.2d at 961-62 [10th Cir.]; Berrios v. Dep't of the Army, 884 F.2d 28, 31 (1st Cir.1989); Pinar v. Dole, 747 F.2d at 910-12 [4th Cir.]; Hallock v. Moses, 731 F.2d 754, 757 (11th Cir.1984). The Third and D.C. Circuits, however, have reached the opposite conclusion. See Mitchum v. Hurt, 73 F.3d 30, 35-36 (3d Cir.1996); Hubbard v. EPA, 809 F.2d 1, 11 (D.C.Cir.1986); see also Spagnola v. Mathis, 859 F.2d at 229-30 [D.C.Cir.] (reaffirming Hubbard ). These courts reason that the `presumed availability of federal equitable relief against threatened invasions of constitutional interests' makes preclusion inappropriate absent a clear expression of congressional intent. Mitchum v. Hurt, 73 F.3d at 35-36 (quoting Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. at 404, 91 S.Ct. 1999 (Harlan, J., concurring)). They conclude that the CSRA does not express such an intent with sufficient strength and clarity to bar courts' traditional power to do equity. Hubbard v. EPA, 809 F.2d at 11 n. 15; Mitchum v. Hurt, 73 F.3d at 35 (Just because `special factors counseling hesitation' militate against the creation of a new non-statutory damages remedy, it does not necessarily follow that the long-recognized availability of injunctive relief should be restricted as well.) 99 This court was presented with the question of whether the CSRA precludes a separate equitable challenge to a federal employment action in Tiltti v. Weise, 155 F.3d 596 (2d Cir.1998). Although we found it unnecessary to resolve the issue in that case, we did acknowledge the majority view favoring preclusion of supplemental equitable relief. See id. at 602 (and cases cited therein). In now confronting the question again, we begin by noting, as the Third Circuit has, that sound arguments can be mustered both in favor of and against preclusion of a federal employee's equitable challenge to employment discrimination. See Mitchum v. Hurt, 73 F.3d at 34 (acknowledging that a good argument can be made that a federal employee who has meaningful administrative remedies and a right to judicial review under the CSRA or another comparable statutory scheme should not be permitted to bypass that scheme by bringing an action under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, though ruling to the contrary). Nevertheless, because we conclude that the majority view is more convincing, we today align ourselves with those circuits that have held that employees covered by the CSRA — including judicial branch employees — may not sue in equity for reinstatement of employment, even when they present constitutional challenges to their termination. 100 Congress's power to restrict the availability of equitable relief cannot be disputed. See, e.g., 28 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 2283; 26 U.S.C. § 7421(a). While courts proceed cautiously when considering whether Congress has impliedly imposed such a restriction on the authority to award injunctive relief to vindicate constitutional rights, Mitchum v. Hurt, 73 F.3d at 35, we conclude that Congress's intent in fashioning the CSRA is clear: federal employees may seek court review for employment actions as provided in the CSRA or not at all.  Veit v. Heckler, 746 F.2d 508, 511 (9th Cir.1984) (emphasis added). 101 As discussed supra at 169-76, the structure of the CSRA, its amendment history, and circumstances relating to the enactment of the CAA all indicate that Congress deliberately decided to afford administrative and judicial review to judicial branch employees not at all. Further, this withholding of review from judicial branch employees is not contingent upon whether the relief sought is monetary or equitable. In fact, both forms of relief are otherwise integral to the review mechanism established by the CSRA. See 5 U.S.C. § 1214(g)(stating that MSPB's authorized corrective actions include, inter alia, damages and orders that the individual be placed, as nearly as possible, in the position the individual would have been in had the prohibited personnel practice not occurred); Saul v. United States, 928 F.2d at 843 (noting that the CSRA provides its own form of injunctive relief); Black v. Dep't of Justice, 85 M.S.P.R. 650, 654 (M.S.P.B.2000) (holding that MSPB has the authority to order reinstatement). The integration of equitable relief, including reinstatement, into the CSRA's comprehensive statutory scheme evinces Congress's intent to determine for itself the scope of that relief and to preclude its applicability to federal employment disputes except where provided by statute. 102 The Supreme Court's admonitions in Bush v. Lucas and Schweiker v. Chilicky instruct courts not to disrupt the remedial balance struck by Congress in structuring a comprehensive statutory scheme such as the CSRA. See Bush v. Lucas, 462 U.S. at 389 (Congress is in a far better position than a court to evaluate the impact of a new species of litigation between federal employees on the efficiency of the civil service.); see also Schweiker v. Chilicky, 487 U.S. at 429, 108 S.Ct. 2460 (Whether or not we believe that its response was the best response, Congress is the body charged with making the inevitable compromises required in the design of a massive and complex [statutory scheme] ... and we see no legal basis that would allow us to revise its decision.); Hallock v. Moses, 731 F.2d at 757 (Congress is in a better position to decide whether the public interest would be served by fashioning the judicial remedy urged by [plaintiff].). 103 Precisely because Supreme Court precedent thus virtually prohibit[s] intrusion by the Courts into the statutory scheme established by Congress [in the CSRA], the Tenth Circuit has concluded that intrusion is disfavored whether it is accomplished by the creation of a damages remedy or injunctive relief. Lombardi v. Small Bus. Admin., 889 F.2d at 962; accord Saul v. United States, 928 F.2d at 843 (citing approvingly to language from Lombardi ); see also Weatherford v. Dole, 763 F.2d 392, 394 (10th Cir.1985) (denying reinstatement to federal employee because [c]ertain agency personnel decisions are simply not subject to judicial review). We agree. 104 Viewed in isolation, Congress's decision to withhold judicial review from aggrieved judicial branch employees may seem curious. Congress, however, was well aware that its decision did not leave judicial branch employees without any relief for employment grievances. As detailed supra at 171-76, the judiciary has long afforded its employees administrative review of adverse employment decisions, modeling its procedures on those available to members of the executive and legislative branches. Further, among the remedies available through the judiciary's administrative process is the precise equitable relief here at issue: reinstatement. See Model EDR Plan Ch. VIII, § 9B.3. 105 Congress has carefully monitored the judiciary's administrative review procedures over a number of years to assess whether legislation was necessary adequately to protect employee rights. In this context, Congress's decision not to act endorses the conclusion that it considered the judicial review available to judicial branch employees through the judiciary's own review plans adequate and intended no supplemental judicial review either at law or in equity. 106 In so concluding, we note that allowing judicial branch employees to pursue equitable challenges to employment actions would, in fact, provide them with more protection than other civil servants, potentially threatening the remedial balance established by Congress in the CSRA. See generally Volk v. Hobson, 866 F.2d at 1402 (cautioning that judicial recognition of remedies beyond those specified in the CSRA would disrupt the [administrative review] system and judicially create classes of preferred employees that Congress intentionally placed in a nonpreferred position, thereby inverting the statutory scheme). Moreover, precisely because the judiciary's administrative review process itself affords an employee one or more levels of judicial review, it would be particularly incongruous to hold that an employee who failed to secure administrative relief from these judicial officers could then invoke equity to have his claim reviewed by a different set of judicial officers. 19 In any event, recognition of an equitable action for constitutionally premised employment challenges by judicial branch employees might well encourage employees to bypass administrative remedies in favor of direct judicial review, thereby depriving courts of the opportunity to resolve personnel problems through administrative channels. See generally Broadway v. Block, 694 F.2d at 986 (holding that federal employee could not pursue judicial review of grievance through the Administrative Procedures Act rather than through CSRA administrative process because that would encourage aggrieved employees to bypass the statutory and administrative remedies in order to seek direct judicial relief and thereby deprive the Government of the opportunity to work out its personnel problems within the framework it has so painstakingly established) (internal quotation marks omitted). 107 In sum, Congress (1) has plainly expressed its intent to create in the CSRA a comprehensive scheme addressing the employment rights of federal civil service personnel; (2) has created, as part of the CSRA, a detailed mechanism for administrative and judicial review and relief, including equitable remedies; (3) has, nevertheless, specifically withheld from judicial branch employees the full range of review and relief afforded by the CSRA; (4) has reiterated its intent to withhold such relief from judicial branch employees through various statutory amendment cycles; and (5) has withheld this relief mindful of the alternative review and relief afforded judicial branch employees by the judiciary itself through administrative procedures that largely mirror those of the CSRA and that, at one or more levels, afford judicial review. From these facts and circumstances, we conclude that Congress has clearly expressed its intent to preclude federal civil service personnel, including judicial employees, from attempting to supplement statutory remedies (and those afforded by the judiciary itself) with separate suits at equity raising constitutional challenges to adverse employment actions.