Court Opinion

ID: 9373310
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-22 16:04:06.991875+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:40.845353
License: Public Domain

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
                        MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD

     BRUCE FREEMAN,                                  DOCKET NUMBER
                 Appellant,                          DA-3443-16-0392-I-1

                  v.

     UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE,                   DATE: October 19, 2022
                   Agency.

             THIS FINAL ORDER IS NONPRECEDENTIAL 1

           Bruce Freeman, Austin, Texas, pro se.

           Paul C. Wolf, Esquire, Dallas, Texas, for the agency.

                                           BEFORE

                               Cathy A. Harris, Vice Chairman
                                Raymond A. Limon, Member
                                 Tristan L. Leavitt, Member

                                       FINAL ORDER

¶1         The appellant has filed a petition for review of the initial decision, which
     dismissed his appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Generally, we grant petitions such
     as this one only when: the initial decision contains erroneous findings of material
     fact; the initial decision is based on an erroneous interpretation of statute or

     1
        A nonprecedential order is one that the Board has determined does not add
     significantly to the body of MSPB case law. Parties may cite nonprecedential orders,
     but such orders have no precedential value; the Board and administrative judges are not
     required to follow or distinguish them in any future decisions. In contrast, a
     precedential decision issued as an Opinion and Order has been identified by the Board
     as significantly contributing to the Board’s case law. See 5 C.F.R. § 1201.117(c).
                                                                                        2

     regulation or the erroneous application of the law to the facts of the case; the
     administrative judge’s rulings during either the course of the appeal or the initial
     decision were not consistent with required procedures or involved an abuse of
     discretion, and the resulting error affected the outcome of the case; or new and
     material evidence or legal argument is available that, despite the petitioner’s due
     diligence, was not available when the record closed.       Title 5 of the Code of
     Federal Regulations, section 1201.115 (5 C.F.R. § 1201.115).            After fully
     considering the filings in this appeal, we conclude that the petitioner has not
     established any basis under section 1201.115 for granting the petition for review.
     Therefore, we DENY the petition for review and AFFIRM the initial decision,
     which is now the Board’s final decision. 5 C.F.R. § 1201.113(b).

                                      BACKGROUND
¶2         The agency removed the appellant from his Mail Processing Clerk position
     for unacceptable conduct–failure to report for duty. Initial Appeal File (IAF),
     Tabs 2-3, Tab 6 at 10. The appellant filed an appeal alleging that he was not
     afforded due process and was deprived of the opportunity to work prior to the
     issuance of the notice of removal. IAF, Tab 2 at 6. The appellant further alleged
     that these actions were taken in retaliation for his prior protected union and equal
     employment opportunity activity. Id.
¶3         On June 16, 2016, the administrative judge issued an acknowledgment order
     notifying the appellant of the requirements to establish Board jurisdiction ov er his
     appeal and ordering the appellant to file evidence and argument establishing
     jurisdiction. IAF, Tab 4 at 2. The agency filed a motion to dismiss in which it
     argued that the Board lacked jurisdiction over the appeal because the appellant
     was not a preference eligible, a supervisor or manager, or an employee engaged in
     personnel work; and that the appellant neither argued nor established a restoration
     claim. IAF, Tab 6 at 5-7. The appellant did not respond to the administrative
     judge’s order or to the agency’s motion to dismiss. IAF, Tab 7, Initial Decision
                                                                                       3

     (ID) at 2.   Subsequently, the administrative judge issued an initial decision
     dismissing the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.    ID.    The administrative judge
     found that the appellant was not a preference-eligible individual and was not a
     supervisor or management employee or an employee engaged in personnel work
     in other than a purely nonconfidential clerical capacity, and thus the Board lacked
     jurisdiction over the appeal. ID at 2. The administr ative judge further found that,
     because the Board lacked jurisdiction over the appeal, she was without authority
     to address the appellant’s retaliation and possible whistleblower reprisal claims.
     Id.
¶4         The appellant has filed a petition for review in which he argues that he did
     not receive an acknowledgment order or any other information regarding his
     appeal and therefore he was unable to provide information as to why the Board
     has jurisdiction over his appeal. Petition for Review (PFR) File, Tab 1. The
     appellant asserts that he did not learn his case was closed until he called the
     Board’s Dallas Regional Office.      Id.   He does not attach any supplemental
     information regarding jurisdiction to his petition for review. Id. The agency has
     filed a response opposing the appellant’s petition. PFR File, Tab 3.

                     DISCUSSION OF ARGUMENTS ON REVIEW
¶5         The Board’s jurisdiction is limited to those matters over which it has been
     given jurisdiction by law, rule, or regulation.          Maddox v. Merit Systems
     Protection Board, 759 F.2d 9, 10 (Fed. Cir. 1985).          A U.S. Postal Service
     employee may file a Board appeal under 5 U.S.C. chapter 75 only if he is covered
     by 39 U.S.C. § 1005(a) or 5 U.S.C. § 7511(a)(1)(B)(ii).      5 U.S.C. § 7511(b)(8).
     Thus, to appeal an adverse action under chapter 75, a Postal Service employee
     must meet the following criteria:      (1) he must be a preference eligible, a
     management or supervisory employee, or an employee engaged in personnel work
     in other than a purely nonconfidential clerical capacity; and (2) he must have
                                                                                        4

     completed 1 year of current continuous service in the same or similar positions.
     Toomey v. U.S. Postal Service, 71 M.S.P.R. 10, 12 (1996).
¶6        On review, the appellant asserts the Board has jurisdiction over his appeal
     but does not provide any evidence or argument in support of this claim. PFR
     File, Tab 1. As the administrative judge properly found, the appellant does not
     meet the criteria that he, as a Postal Service employee, must meet for the Board to
     have jurisdiction over the appeal. The administrative judge properly reviewed the
     evidence set forth in the record and found that the appellant w as not a preference
     eligible, a management or supervisory employee, or an employee engaged in
     personnel work in other than a nonconfidential clerical capacity. ID at 1 -2.
¶7        The appellant’s argument that he did not receive an acknowledgment order
     or other information regarding his appeal, and consequently did not have the
     opportunity to prove jurisdiction, is also unavailing. When a certificate of service
     indicates that a document was mailed to the appellant’s address of record, it is
     presumed that it was duly delivered to, and received by, the appellant. Deville v.
     Government Printing Office, 93 M.S.P.R. 187, ¶ 11 (2002); Santos v. U.S. Postal
     Service, 77 M.S.P.R. 573, 577 (1998). The certificate of service appended to the
     administrative judge’s acknowledgment order indicates it was mailed to the
     appellant’s address of record. Compare IAF, Tab 4 at 17, with IAF, Tab 2 at 2.
     Similarly, the agency’s motion to dismiss and the administrative judge’s initial
     decision indicate they were mailed to the appellant’s address of record. Compare
     IAF, Tab 6 at 13, Tab 8, with IAF, Tab 2 at 2. The appellant has not argued that
     the address on each of the referenced certificates of service was not his address of
     record or that there is another reason he did not receive his mail. The appellant’s
     allegation that he did not know about the acknowledgment order is insufficient to
     rebut the presumption that the order and subsequent motion to dismiss and initial
     decision were delivered to and received by the appellant. Deville, 93 M.S.P.R.
     187, ¶ 11.
                                                                                           5

¶8         Finally, the administrative judge properly found that the Board lacks
     jurisdiction over the appellant’s retaliation claims.       Although Postal Service
     employees may raise retaliation as an affirmative defense, th e Board is without
     jurisdiction to hear such claims in the absence of an otherwise appealable action.
     See Hicks v. U.S. Postal Service, 114 M.S.P.R. 232, ¶ 13 (2010) (finding that
     allegations of discrimination and retaliation did not confer jurisdiction in the
     absence of an otherwise appealable action); Wren v. Department of the Army,
     2 M.S.P.R. 1, 2 (1980) (determining that prohibited personnel practices under
     5 U.S.C. § 2302(b) are not an independent source of Board jurisdiction), aff’d,
     681 F.2d 867, 871-73 (D.C. Cir. 1982). Furthermore, Postal Service employees
     may not file an individual right of action appeal be cause the Postal Service is not
     a   covered   agency    under   the   Whistleblower     Protection   Act.     5 U.S.C.
     § 2302(a)(2)(C); Matthews v. U.S. Postal Service, 93 M.S.P.R. 109, ¶ 13 (2002);
     Mack v. U.S. Postal Service, 48 M.S.P.R. 617, 621 (1991); see Banks v. Merit
     Systems Protection Board, 854 F.3d 1360, 1362-63 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (finding that
     the U.S. Postal Service is not an Executive agency for the purposes of Title 5). In
     the absence of an appealable action, we find that the administrative judge
     properly dismissed the appeal in its entirety.

                              NOTICE OF APPEAL RIGHTS 2
           You may obtain review of this final decision. 5 U.S.C. § 7703(a)(1). By
     statute, the nature of your claims determines the time limit for seeking such
     review and the appropriate forum with which to file.            5 U.S.C. § 7703(b).
     Although we offer the following summary of available appeal rights, the Merit
     Systems Protection Board does not provide legal advice on which option is most
     appropriate for your situation and the rights described below do not represent a

     2
       Since the issuance of the initial decision in this matter, the Board may have updated
     the notice of review rights included in final decisions. As indicated in the notice, the
     Board cannot advise which option is most appropriate in any matter.
                                                                                       6

statement of how courts will rule regarding which cases fall within their
jurisdiction.   If you wish to seek review of this final decision, you should
immediately review the law applicable to your claims and carefully follow all
filing time limits and requirements. Failure to file within the applicable time
limit may result in the dismissal of your case by your chosen forum.
      Please read carefully each of the three main possible choices of review
below to decide which one applies to your particular case. If you have questions
about whether a particular forum is the appropriate one to review your case, you
should contact that forum for more information.

      (1) Judicial review in general. As a general rule, an appellant seeking
judicial review of a final Board order must file a petition for review with the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which must be received by the court
within 60 calendar days of the date of issuance of this decision.               5 U.S.C.
§ 7703(b)(1)(A).
      If you submit a petition for review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal   Circuit,   you   must   submit   your   petition   to   the   court    at   the
following address:
                              U.S. Court of Appeals
                              for the Federal Circuit
                             717 Madison Place, N.W.
                             Washington, D.C. 20439

      Additional information about the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit is available at the court’s website, www.cafc.uscourts.gov. Of particular
relevance is the court’s “Guide for Pro Se Petitioners and Appellants,” which is
contained within the court’s Rules of Practice, and Forms 5, 6, 10, and 11.
      If you are interested in securing pro bono representation for an appeal to
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, you may visit our website at
http://www.mspb.gov/probono for information regarding pro bono representation
for Merit Systems Protection Board appellants before the Federal Circuit. The
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Board neither endorses the services provided by any attorney nor warrants that
any attorney will accept representation in a given case.

      (2) Judicial   or   EEOC     review   of   cases     involving    a   claim   of
discrimination. This option applies to you only if you have claimed that you
were affected by an action that is appealable to the Board and that such action
was based, in whole or in part, on unlawful discrimination. If so, you may obtain
judicial review of this decision—including a disposition of your discrimination
claims—by filing a civil action with an appropriate U.S. district court ( not the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit), within 30 calendar days after you
receive this decision.     5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(2); see Perry v. Merit Systems
Protection Board, 582 U.S. ____ , 137 S. Ct. 1975 (2017).              If you have a
representative in this case, and your representative receives this decision before
you do, then you must file with the district court no later than 30 calendar days
after your representative receives this decision. If the action involves a claim of
discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or a disabling
condition, you may be entitled to representation by a court-appointed lawyer and
to waiver of any requirement of prepayment of fees, costs, or other security. See
42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f) and 29 U.S.C. § 794a.
      Contact information for U.S. district courts can be found at their respective
websites, which can be accessed through the link below:
      http://www.uscourts.gov/Court_Locator/CourtWebsites.aspx.
      Alternatively, you may request review by the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) of your discrimination claims only, excluding
all other issues. 5 U.S.C. § 7702(b)(1). You must file any such request with the
EEOC’s Office of Federal Operations within 30 calendar days after you receive
this decision. 5 U.S.C. § 7702(b)(1). If you have a representative in this case,
and your representative receives this decision before you do, then you must file
                                                                                       8

with the EEOC no later than 30 calendar days after your representative receives
this decision.
      If you submit a request for review to the EEOC by regular U.S. mail, the
address of the EEOC is:
                            Office of Federal Operations
                     Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
                                  P.O. Box 77960
                             Washington, D.C. 20013

      If you submit a request for review to the EEOC via commercial delivery or
by a method requiring a signature, it must be addressed to:
                            Office of Federal Operations
                     Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
                                 131 M Street, N.E.
                                   Suite 5SW12G
                             Washington, D.C. 20507

      (3) Judicial     review    pursuant     to   the   Whistleblower       Protection
Enhancement Act of 2012. This option applies to you only if you have raised
claims of reprisal for whistleblowing disclosures under 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8) or
other protected activities listed in 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(9)(A)(i), (B), (C), or (D).
If so, and your judicial petition for review “raises no challenge to the Board’s
disposition of allegations of a prohibited personnel practice described in section
2302(b) other than practices described in section 2302(b)(8), or 2302(b)(9)(A)(i),
(B), (C), or (D),” then you may file a petition for judicial review either with the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or any court of appeals of
competent jurisdiction. 3    The court of appeals must receive your petition for

3
   The original statutory provision that provided for judicial review of certain
whistleblower claims by any court of appeals of competent jurisdiction expired on
December 27, 2017. The All Circuit Review Act, signed into law b y the President on
July 7, 2018, permanently allows appellants to file petitions for judicial review of
MSPB decisions in certain whistleblower reprisal cases with the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit or any other circuit court of appeals of c ompetent jurisdiction.
The All Circuit Review Act is retroactive to November 26, 2017. Pub. L. No. 115-195,
132 Stat. 1510.
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review within 60 days of the date of issuance of this decision.          5 U.S.C.
§ 7703(b)(1)(B).
      If you submit a petition for judicial review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit, you must submit your petition to the court at the
following address:
                             U.S. Court of Appeals
                             for the Federal Circuit
                            717 Madison Place, N.W.
                            Washington, D.C. 20439

      Additional information about the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit is available at the court’s website, www.cafc.uscourts.gov. Of particular
relevance is the court’s “Guide for Pro Se Petitioners and Appellants,” which is
contained within the court’s Rules of Practice, and Forms 5, 6, 10, and 11.
      If you are interested in securing pro bono representation for an appeal to
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, you may visit our website at
http://www.mspb.gov/probono for information regarding pro bono representation
for Merit Systems Protection Board appellants before the Federal Circuit. The
Board neither endorses the services provided by any attorney nor warrants that
any attorney will accept representation in a given case.
      Contact information for the courts of appeals can be found at their
respective websites, which can be accessed through the link below:
      http://www.uscourts.gov/Court_Locator/CourtWebsites.aspx.

FOR THE BOARD:                                    /s/ for
                                          Jennifer Everling
                                          Acting Clerk of the Board
Washington, D.C.