Court Opinion

ID: 9476461
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:56:35.343333+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:20.006102
License: Public Domain

NIES, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
Because the present appeal does not require us to address the larger issue of civilian retirement credit for academy time under past or present law and that issue was not addressed by the parties, I do not join either the majority or dissenting opinions on that issue. I do concur in result with the majority but would resolve this appeal in favor of the government on the narrower issue raised by the parties. That issue has nothing to do with whether academy time can or cannot be treated as “military service” for purposes of credit towards civilian retirement under prior or current statutes.
OPM denied Jeffrey credit towards civilian retirement for time spent at the Naval Academy, not because it was academy time, but because Jeffrey received a military pension. It is undisputed that CSC and its successor OPM consistently interpreted the 1956-1982 version of section 8332(c) to preclude credit for civilian retirement purposes of any military service time if the employee received military retirement pay. That interpretation closely tracks the statutory language during that time period which stated (with exceptions not pertinent here): “[A]n employee ... shall be allowed credit for periods of military service ... [unless] an employee ... is awarded retired pay on account of military *1533service.” OPM’s interpretation cannot possibly be held to be unreasonable, as the MSPB held, on the basis of non-existent supportiye legislative history for the agency’s interpretation at the time of enactment in 1956 of the version of section 8332(c) under review.
In its attack on the majority’s analysis, the dissent eloquently sets out the principles that require us to uphold an agency’s long-standing interpretation. Application of those same principles requires us to uphold the twenty-five year uniform interpretation by CSC and OPM that receipt of a military pension under the 1956-1982 statute precludes credit towards civilian retirement of any military service.
The preclusive effect of a military pension in the 1956-1982 period, per OPM’s interpretation, encompasses not only military service credited towards military retirement, but also any uncredited military service, not simply academy time, e.g., active duty service beyond thirty years. The dissent relies on OPM’s interpretation of academy time as military service to overturn OPM’s interpretation of the preclusive effect of a military pension. It simply sets up a strawman and knocks it down.
In any event, I would hold that the MSPB erred in substituting its interpretation of the 1956-1982 version of the statute for that of OPM.