Court Opinion

ID: 9479845
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:30:27.821035+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:19.004682
License: Public Domain

ORDER
ARCHER, Circuit Judge.
This petition for review arises from the decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or Board), Docket No. AT03518810283 (June 24, 1988), sustaining the separation of George Noble by reduction-in-force (RIF) from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
A. Noble, a “preference eligible” as defined by 5 U.S.C. § 2108 (1988), was employed by the TVA at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Hollywood, Alabama, until August 30, 1985, when he and eighteen other cement masons in his competitive level were separated by RIF. Noble challenged his separation by filing an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint within the TVA alleging that he had been discriminated against on the basis of both age and race. Following the agency’s denial of his EEO complaint on February 10, 1988, Noble appealed to the MSPB on the grounds set forth in his EEO complaint and, as well, alleging that the TVA had illegally failed to recognize and honor his reemployment rights under the Veterans’ Preference Act of 1944 (VPA) (codified at 5 U.S.C. §§ 1302, 2108, 3305, 3308-3318, 3320, 3351, 3363, 3501-3504, 7511-7513, and 7701 (1988)). Noble’s claim to reemployment rights relates to the failure of TVA to rehire him in October 1985.
The Board characterized Noble’s appeal as a challenge to the bona fides of the agency’s RIF action and, after finding the agency’s procedures to be in accordance with law, denied Noble’s appeal. Although Noble specifically raised the issue, the Board did not consider his claim that the TVA had violated his reemployment rights under 5 U.S.C. § 3315 (1988).
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 VPA. Accordingly, this is no longer a “mixed” case and jurisdiction over this matter lies, if at all, in this court. See 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1) (1988); 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9) (1982); cf. 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(2) (1988); Williams v. Department of Army, 715 F.2d 1485 (Fed.Cir.1983) {in banc) (Federal Circuit has no jurisdiction to review MSPB decisions involving discrimination claims).
B. Our appellate jurisdiction is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 1295 (1982) which states, in part, that this court has “exclusive jurisdiction ... of an appeal from a final order or final decision of the [MSPB], pursuant to sections 7703(b)(1) and 7703(d) of title 5[.]” 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9). Implicit in this grant of authority, however, is the limitation that we may review the Board’s decisions regarding only those matters over which the Board itself has subject matter jurisdiction. Maddox v. Merit Sys. Protection Bd., 759 F.2d 9, 10 (Fed.Cir.1985); see also P. Broida, A Guide to Merit System Protection Board Law & Practice 1487 (1989) (“It is significant in determining whether the Federal Circuit has jurisdiction in an appeal to first determine whether the Board properly has jurisdiction_”). Therefore, unless the MSPB was authorized to consider Noble’s claim that the TVA violated his VPA reemployment rights, we are without power to entertain his petition for review on that issue.
As we have often stated, the MSPB has no jurisdiction except that granted to it by “law, rule, or regulation.” 5 U.S.C. § 7701(a) (1988); see, e.g., Manning v. Merit Sys. Protection Bd., 742 F.2d 1424, 1426 (Fed.Cir.1984); Thomas v. United States, 709 F.2d 48, 49 (Fed.Cir.1983); cf. Lackhouse v. Merit Sys. Protection Bd., 773 F.2d 313, 315-16 (Fed.Cir.1985). A general listing of the Board’s subject matter juris*1015diction is set forth in 5 C.F.R. § 1201.3(a) (1989).
In this case, Noble has cited no “law, rule, or regulation” authorizing an appeal to the MSPB by a preference eligible seeking reemployment by the TVA based on an alleged violation of his priority rights under the VPA, and none exists. While the TVA is required by statute to honor the reemployment priority rights of preference eligibles pursuant to the VPA, see 5 U.S.C. §§ 3315, 3316 and 3320 (1988), neither the VPA nor the regulations promulgated pursuant to the VPA, see 5 U.S.C. § 1302 (1988), contain any provision granting Noble and others similarly situated the right to appeal an alleged violation of these rights to the MSPB.
An appeal to the MSPB by a preference eligible against whom an “adverse action” has been taken under 5 U.S.C. §§ 7511-7513 (1988) is authorized by section 7513(d). These “adverse actions,” however, do not include a failure to rehire following separation by RIF. Likewise, the appeal right set forth in 5 C.F.R. § 330.209, which provides that “[a]n individual who believes that his or her reemployment priority rights under this subpart have been violated ... may appeal to the [MSPB],” does not apply to one in Noble’s situation. Subpart 330 covers only those individuals seeking reemployment within the “competitive” service, 5 C.F.R. § 330.203, from which the TVA is excepted. See Dodd v. TVA, 770 F.2d 1038, 1040 (Fed.Cir.1985),1 (positions within the TVA are within the “excepted,” not the “competitive,” service). The reemployment and appeal rights set forth in subparts 302, 352, and 353 of 5 C.F.R. similarly do not apply to persons in Noble’s status. The provisions of these subparts are tailored to specific factual situations, none of which involves reemployment following separation by RIF from the TVA.
Accordingly, because there is no “law, rule, or regulation” authorizing the Board to adjudicate Noble’s alleged violation of his VPA reemployment rights, the Board was without subject matter jurisdiction to consider that portion of his appeal. Because the Board lacked jurisdiction over Noble’s VPA reemployment rights, which is the only issue before this court (all other matters raised before the MSPB being abandoned), we, as well, are without jurisdiction over Noble’s petition for review. If Congress or the Office of Personnel Management had determined that preference eligibles of Noble’s status should be allowed to seek redress of violations of their reemployment rights by appealing to the MSPB, they could have so provided. Neither has done so at this time and we are without authority to prescribe such a procedure.
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the appeal be dismissed.

. In Dodd we held that a preference eligible could appeal to the MSPB on the basis of an alleged violation by the TVA of his retention priority rights as provided by 5 C.F.R. § 351.901 (1988). Retention rights, however, are separate and distinct from the reemployment rights Noble seeks to assert in this case. See Elder v. Brannan, 341 U.S. 277, 286-89, 71 S.Ct. 685, 690-91, 95 L.Ed. 939 (1951). Therefore, section 351.901 does not provide an avenue by which Noble may appeal to the MSPB based on an alleged violation of his VPA reemployment rights.