Court Opinion

ID: 9480489
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:49:20.494849+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:43.238754
License: Public Domain

MARKEY, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
Respectfully, I dissent.
The majority’s analysis rests on its view that this is a “mixed case.” In this case, however, Cruz resigned. Voluntary resignation deprives the board of its jurisdiction. On the other hand, where an agency forces an employee to choose between resignation and an unsubstantiated adverse action, its doing so is deemed coercion and an adverse action within the board’s jurisdiction. See Schultz v. United States Navy, 810 F.2d 1133 (Fed.Cir.1987). For this to have been a mixed case within the board’s jurisdiction, Cruz must have first established that his resignation was involuntary, i.e. that it was coerced. That he failed to do.
The sole agency action here was a proposal to remove. The agency cited insubordination as its reason. The agency did not suggest to Cruz that he resign, and the board found that the insubordination charge was substantiated. Cruz says another reason underlying the agency’s proposal was because he filed EEO complaints. It does not matter, however, what additional reasons the agency may or may not have had, as long as the charge underlying the proposal was substantiated. The agency simply was not forcing the type of *693choice discussed in Schultz. Because Cruz’s resignation was not coerced, it was voluntary and the board lacked jurisdiction.
Nowhere does the majority indicate any error in the board’s determination that Cruz’s resignation was voluntary. Nor did the board err in notifying Cruz of his right to appeal to this court. In Ballentine v. Merit Systems Protection Board, 738 F.2d 1244 (Fed.Cir.1984), we unequivocally stated that we alone have jurisdiction to review a board decision on its jurisdiction, made prior ,to its reaching the merits of a case alleging an appealable action and discrimination.
The board was entirely correct in deciding first its jurisdiction. Citing 5 U.S.C. § 7702(a)(1), the majority correctly notes that in a mixed case the board is required to decide both issues within 120 days. To do that, however, the board must have jurisdiction.
I would affirm the dismissal for lack of board jurisdiction.