Opinion ID: 562148
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Procedural History in This Court

Text: 11 In the now vacated opinion, the panel majority described this as a mixed case, which it defined as one involving an appealable action and a discrimination issue. Citing Williams v. Department of the Army, 715 F.2d 1485 (Fed.Cir.1983), and 5 U.S.C. Sec. 7702, and expressing concern that Cruz might otherwise be denied court review of his discrimination claim, the panel would have remanded the case to the Board with instructions to decide the discrimination issue. Though the panel said it reversed the Board, it did not specify the nature of or describe the appealable action it thought present and it did not challenge the Board's finding that Cruz' resignation was not the result of coercion, deception or the like. Nor did the panel discuss the question of whether, once it found Cruz' February 16, 1988 resignation voluntary, and that there was thus no appealable action over which it had jurisdiction, the Board had jurisdiction to proceed further to decide a claim not within its assigned jurisdiction. 12 This court accepted the Navy's suggestion for in banc consideration of this question: 13 Whether an allegation of title VII discrimination presented by a former employee expands the jurisdiction of the Merit Systems Protection Board to decide that discrimination issue where the board had already determined that it lacked jurisdiction under 5 U.S.C. Sec. 7512 because the former employee had resigned voluntarily. 14 We here answer that question in the negative.