Court Opinion

ID: 9373397
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-22 16:04:44.925754+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:41.314143
License: Public Domain

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
                        MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD

     ABHIJIT KULKARNI,                                DOCKET NUMBER
                         Appellant,                   DE-1221-19-0232-W-1

                  v.

     DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS                           DATE: September 23, 2022
       AFFAIRS,
                         Agency.

             THIS FINAL ORDER IS NONPRECEDENTIAL 1

           Sayali Kulkarni, Salt Lake City, Utah, for the appellant.

           Johnston B. Walker, Jackson, Mississippi, for the agency.

                                           BEFORE

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

                                       FINAL ORDER

¶1         The appellant has petitioned for review of the October 17, 2019 initial
     decision in this appeal. Initial Appeal File, Tab 57, Initial Decision; Petition for

     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        A nonprecedential order is one that the Board has determined does not add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 Parties may cite nonprecedential orders,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 administra tive 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

     Review (PFR) File, Tab 1. For the reasons set forth below, we DISMISS the
     appeal as settled.
¶2           After the filing of the petition for review, the parties submitted a document
     entitled “SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT” signed and dated by the appellant on
     May 7, 2020, and by the agency on May 8, 2020.               PFR File, Tab 4.      The
     document provides, among other things, that the appellant agreed to withdraw the
     above-captioned appeal in exchange for the promises made by the agency. 2 Id.
     at 4.
¶3           Before dismissing a matter as settled, the Board must decide whether the
     parties have entered into a settlement agreement, whether they understand its
     terms, and whether they intend to have the agreement entered into the record for
     enforcement by the Board.        See Mahoney v. U.S. Postal Service, 37 M.S.P.R.
     146, 149 (1988). In addition, before accepting a settlement agreement into the
     record for enforcement purposes, the Board must determine whether the
     agreement is lawful on its face and whether the parties freely entered into it . See
     Massey v. Office of Personnel Management, 91 M.S.P.R. 289, ¶ 4 (2002),
     overruled on other grounds by Delorme v. Department of the Interior,
     124 M.S.P.R. 123, ¶¶ 11-21 (2017) (holding that the Board may enforce

     2
      The waiver and withdrawal provision in this executed settlement agreement preserves
     one issue for adjudication by the Board on petition for review:
             The only exception to the waiver and withdrawal provisions in this
             agreement are specific claims related to the determination that
             Complainant belongs on Pay Table 1 that were not included in the EEO
             cases referenced above. Complainant is not prohibited b y this agreement
             from pursuing claims related to Pay Table determinations before the
             MSPB, OSC, or any other forum. Therefore, MSPB case No. DE -1221-
             19-0158-W-1 is dismissed except for the claim related to the pay table
             demotion.
     PFR File, Tab 4 at 4-5. The Board will address the pay table retaliation demotion issue
     in a separate order in Kulkarni v. Department of Veterans Affairs, MSPB Docket
     No. DE-1221-19-0158-W-1.
                                                                                           3

     settlement agreements that have been entered into the record, independe nt of any
     prior finding of Board jurisdiction over the underlying matter being settled).
¶4         Here, we find that the parties have entered into a settlement agreement and
     understand its terms. PFR File, Tab 4. We further find that the parties do not
     intend to enter the settlement agreement into the record for enforcement by the
     Board, as the agreement instead provides for enforcement through the equal
     employment opportunity procedures set forth at 29 C.F.R. § 1614.504. 3 Id. at 6;
     see Grubb v. Department of the Interior, 76 M.S.P.R. 639, 642-43 (1997)
     (finding   that   the   parties   intended   the   Equal   Employment     Opportunity
     Commission, not the Board, to enforce a settlement agreement that provided for
     enforcement in accordance with 29 C.F.R. § 1614.504). As the parties do not
     intend for the Board to enforce the settlement agreement, we need not address the
     additional considerations regarding enforcement and do not enter the settlement
     agreement into the record for enforcement by the Board.
¶5         In light of the foregoing, we find that dismissing the petition for appeal
     “with prejudice to refiling” (i.e., the parties normally may not refile this appeal)
     is appropriate under these circumstances. This is the final decision of the Merit
     Systems Protection Board in this appeal.           Title 5 of the Code of Federal
     Regulations, section 1201.113 (5 C.F.R. § 1201.113).

     3
       In response to an e-Appeal prompt when submitting the settlement agreement in th is
     appeal, the agency indicated that the parties agreed that the settlement agreement would
     be entered into the record for enforcement by the Board. PFR File, Tab 4 at 3.
     However, the settlement agreement itself provides that, if the appellant believes t he
     agency has failed to comply with a term of the settlement agreement, he must notify the
     agency in writing of the alleged breach within 30 days and then may file an appeal with
     the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission pursuant to 29 C.F.R. § 1614.504. Id.
     at 6. As the words of the agreement itself are of paramount importance in determining
     the intent of the parties at the time they contracted, we find that the parties did not
     intend the settlement agreement to be entered into the record for enforcement by the
     Board but instead for the appellant to pursue enforcement through the alternate process
     specified in the agreement. See Greco v. Department of the Army, 852 F.2d 558, 560
     (Fed. Cir. 1988).
                                                                                         4

                           NOTICE OF APPEAL RIGHTS 4
      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
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:

4
  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.
                                                                                    5

                             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 websit e 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.

      (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
                                                                                  6

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
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
                                                                                      7

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. 5 The court of appeals must receive your
petition for 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

5
   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 by 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 competent jurisdiction.
The All Circuit Review Act is retroactive to November 26, 2017. Pub. L. No. 115 -195,
132 Stat. 1510.
                                                                             8

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.