Court Opinion

ID: 9843069
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:25:41.293453+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:27.260725
License: Public Domain

PAULINE NEWMAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. This court’s en banc ruling ratifies a failure of administrative process that not even the Board seeks to sustain. It is not this court’s obligation to endorse a system that has malfunctioned, by refusing to correct the system when errors arise. Fair procedures require vigilance, and responsive judicial review.
A
Let us review what has transpired. The merits of Mrs. Mendoza’s appeal were not reached by the Board, on the basis that the appeal was untimely filed. The merits of her request for waiver of the untimely filing were not decided by the Board, upon procedures that even this en banc court now finds “confusing”. In the now-vacated decision of a unanimous panel of this court, the Board’s actions were found wanting. The Board did not acknowledge Mrs. Mendoza’s request for waiver, did not mention the reasons she gave to explain her untimely filing, and did not assess the adequacy of her evidence. The panel deemed this procedure inadequate, for it ignored that Mrs. Mendoza had already complied with the Board instructions that OPM sent to her, concerning untimely filing. As required in those instructions, she stated that her filing was untimely, requested waiver, and gave her reasons; she requested:
Waiver for the timelyness [on] the ground that I am very old and sickly, and I can’t go to the doctor for the aid, because no monies for the [exjpenses, so that I can give you the certificate of a doctor to satisf[y] your good office.
The panel expressed its concern that the administrative judge twice issued Orders that failed to respond to or even acknowledge this request. Although the court now holds that Mrs. Mendoza should have interpreted these Orders to mean that her proffered excuse was inadequate, that is not what the Orders said.1
*655In its petition for rehearing the Board agrees that “the administrative judge failed to address appellant’s reasons for waiver of the time limit.” This failure is neither contested nor defended by the Board, whose sole points in its petition for rehearing were that the panel incorrectly applied Alonzo v. Dep’t of the Air Force, 4 MSPB 262, 4 M.S.P.R. 180 (1980), and that the panel should not itself have addressed the merits of. the requested waiver but should have remanded the issue for consideration in the first instance by an administrative judge. This en banc court, however, rehabilitates the Board’s flawed procedure — and then proceeds to decide the merits itself.
In deciding the case on. its merits this court redefines the issue as “whether the Board improperly denied her a waiver based on her initial request”. However,the Board agrees, indeed insists, that it did not base its denial on her initial request. Thus, while the Board stresses in its petition for rehearing that “the Board failed to rule on the question of whether being ‘very old and sickly’ constituted a reasonable excuse for a five-week delay”, this court now excuses that lapse, and rules on the question based on the Board’s arguments filed in the petition for. rehearing.
Deciding the merits of Mrs. Mendoza’s initial request, this court criticizes her showing for “vagueness”. However, not until the petition for rehearing did the Board assert that her reasons were “vague”. Neither OPM, nor the administrative judge, nor the Board, had stated this objection during any of the prior proceedings. This assertion was raised in the Board’s petition for rehearing as part of the argument that the Panel had incorrectly applied Alonzo, not in support of the Board’s earlier actions.
B
In its petition for rehearing the Board now advises this en banc court of what was required of Mrs. Mendoza. The Board states that her “assertion, of being sickly is insufficient to support a five-week delay unless she details other circumstances such as the nature of the sickness, its duration, and how it prevented her from filing an appeal on time.” None of this useful information was mentioned earlier in the proceedings; it was not communicated to Mrs. Mendoza, or even included in the Board’s brief on appeal to the Federal Circuit.
Although Mrs. Mendoza has had no chance to respond to this objection, this en banc court appears to rely on it. Such criticism of her showing should have been raised in a way that allowed response, instead of appearing for the first time in the Board’s petition for rehearing. “The courts may not accept appellate counsel’s post hoc rationalizations for agency action.” Burlington Truck Lines, Inc. v. United States, 371 U.S. 156, 168, 83 S.Ct. 239, 245, 9 L.Ed.2d 207 (1962). “[Ajgency ‘litigating positions’ are not entitled to deference when they are merely appellate counsel’s ‘post hoc rationalizations’ for agency action, advanced for the first time in- the reviewing court.” Martin v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Comm’n, - U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 1171, 1179, 113 L.Ed.2d 117 (1991).
Incidentally, I observe that the Board’s statement of what was lacking in Mrs. Mendoza’s submission does hot mention documentary evidence. This court’s endorsement of the administrative judge’s two “orders” demanding “evidence” suggests the court’s belief that explanation alone is insufficient, and that documents are required. Yet the Board now tells us that' “details” may suffice. Indeed, the applicable regulation simply requires “a good reason”. 5 C.F.R. § 1201.22(c) (an untimely filing will be dismissed unless “a good reason for the delay is shown”). I wonder how Mrs. Mendoza (or judges) would know what “evidence” might satisfy the Board under these circumstances, for not until the Board’s petition for rehearing are we told what the Board had in mind.2
*656In justifying the Board’s procedures, this court criticizes Mrs. Mendoza for not repeating the information that she had already filed. The court states: “in spite of a specific Order from the Administrative Judge requesting evidence showing that good cause existed for the delay, Mrs. Mendoza never once thereafter referred to timeliness, waiver, or good cause.” This court fatally faults Mrs. Mendoza for not “thereafter” referring to “timeliness” and “waiver” or the reasons for her delay, although these precise words and her reasons had already been filed, in accordance with the Board’s instructions for untimely appeals.
This court does not explain why the administrative judge’s lack of responsiveness to Mrs. Mendoza’s request for waiver must be twice excused, while placing the burden of prescience on Mrs. Mendoza. Mrs. Mendoza was apparently supposed to grasp that the administrative judge had failed to read her initial submission, and therefore that she was obliged to repeat it. However, even the Board does not now argue in favor of the procedure followed in this case.
C
The issuance of form “orders” in inapplicable circumstances can only confuse the public that OPM and the Board are designed to serve. The Board recognizes that its pro se petitioners are “entitled to some leniency with respect to court-type formalities.” Black v. Dep’t ofHous. and Urban Dev., 42 M.S.P.R. 83, 86 n. 2 (1989). See also Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 9,101 S.Ct. 173, 175, 66 L.Ed.2d 163 (1980) (recognizing needs of pro se petitioners). The Board regulations state that “The judge will provide the party with an opportunity to show why the appeal should not be dismissed as untimely.” 5 C.F.R. § 1201.-22(c). The opportunity here provided was flawed, for Mrs. Mendoza’s excuse was not considered by the Board, and she now is receiving from this court an adverse decision based on the Board’s newly presented information and argument, to which she had no opportunity to respond.
I fully agree that it is improper for a court to intrude into an agency’s routine operations. See Phillips v. United States Postal Service, 695 F.2d 1389, 1390 (Fed. Cir.1982) (Board authorized to control its operations through prescribed Regulations). However,., the issuance by an administrative judge of two non-responsive form “orders”, not addressing the petitioner’s request on its merits, followed by forfeiture of substantive legal rights, is not a routine operation. Judicial correction of legal error is not micromanagement of operations. It is our responsibility. See 5 U.S.C. § 7703(e) (Federal Circuit shall “set aside any agency action ... found to be ... obtained without procedures required by law, rule or regulation having been followed”).

. The first Order was particularly confusing. It stated: "If your appeal is timely filed ... you have a right to a hearing on the merits of your case", ignoring that Mrs. Mendoza had stated in her filing that the appeal was not timely filed. The Order mentioned "evidence and argument showing that your appeal was timely refiled or that good cause existed for the delay.” (Emphasis added.) The Order requested that she file an explanation of any tardy filing, whereas Mrs. Mendoza had already filed an explanation of her tardy filing.
The Board wrote in. its petition for rehearing that the order to show cause "gave Ms. Mendoza specific notice that more and better evidence would be required for a waiver of the time limit.” However, there is no "specific notice” about “more and better evidence” in the order, which simply ordered her to file evidence, ignoring the evidence already filed.
This court states that "OPM moved to dismiss because she submitted no evidence in support of the stated cause of the delay." However, the OPM motion made no reference to any "stated cause" and, as the Board concedes, the administrative judge never addressed her stated cause.

. The Board instructions to its administrative judges with respect to Philippine retirement appeals include:
(2) "Good cause” should be liberally construed for appeals filed within 6 months from the date of the OPM reconsideration decision. *656From P. Broida A Guide to Merit Systems Protection Board Law & Practice, 244 (9th ed. 1992) (citing Chap. 3 of the Board's Judge’s Handbook ).