Court Opinion

ID: 9373719
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-22 16:06:55.122206+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:43.127118
License: Public Domain

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
                          MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD

     JOSE L. JIMENEZ,                                 DOCKET NUMBER
                    Appellant,                        SF-3330-19-0605-I-1

                     v.

     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,                      DATE: May 6, 2022
                 Agency.

                THIS FINAL ORDER IS NONPRECEDENTIAL 1

              Ben Toth, Esquire, San Francisco, California, for the appellant.

              Karen D. Glasgow, Esquire, San Francisco, California, for the agency.

                                             BEFORE

                                 Raymond A. Limon, Vice Chair
                                   Tristan L. Leavitt, Member

                                         FINAL ORDER

¶1            After issuance of the February 2, 2021 initial decision in this appeal, the
         parties notified the Board that they had settled the appeal.   Petition for Review

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        A nonprecedential order is one that the Board has determined does not add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 Parties may cite nonprecedential orders,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

         (PFR) File, Tab 5; see Initial Appeal File, Tab 22. 2 For the reasons set forth
         below, we REOPEN the appeal under 5 C.F.R. § 1201.118, VACATE the initial
         decision, and DISMISS the appeal as settled.
¶2             The parties submitted a document entitled “SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
         AND RELEASE” signed and dated by the appellant on August 18, 2021, and by
         the agency on September 9, 2021.         PFR File, Tab 5 at 7.      The document
         provides, among other things, for the withdrawal and dismissal of the appeal.
         Id., at 5.
¶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
         settlement agreements that have been entered into the record, independent 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, that
         they understand its terms, and that they intend for the agreement to be entered
         into the record for enforcement by the Board. PFR File, Tab 5 at 5. In addition,
         we find that the agreement is lawful on its face and that the parties freely entered
         into it.

     2
       As the initial decision had already been issued by the time the parties notified the
     Board of their settlement agreement, the submission was considered and docketed as an
     untimely filed petition for review of the initial decision. PFR File, Tab 6.
                                                                                           3

¶5            Accordingly, 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, and we accept the settlement agreement into the
         record for enforcement purposes. 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).

                             NOTICE TO THE PARTIES OF THEIR
                                 ENFORCEMENT RIGHTS
              If the agency or the appellant has not fully carried out the terms of the
     agreement, either party may ask the Board to enforce the settlement agreement by
     promptly filing a petition for enforcement with the office that issued the initial
     decision on this appeal. The petition should contain specific reasons why the
     petitioning party believes that the terms of the settlement agreement have not
     been fully carried out, and should include the dates and results of any
     communications between the parties. 5 C.F.R. § 1201.182(a).

                                NOTICE OF APPEAL RIGHTS 3
              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 the ir
     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

     3
       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.
                                                                                        4

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
Board neither endorses the services provided by any attorney nor warrants that
any attorney will accept representation in a given case.
                                                                                  5

      (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
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:
                                                                                      6

                            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 se ction
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. 4   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).

4
   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.
                                                                                  7

      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.