Court Opinion

ID: 9486095
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:37:53.186465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:31.719610
License: Public Domain

SILBERMAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in Judge Randolph’s opinion rejecting Ramey’s argument that despite the clear language of 31 U.S.C. § 755 (1986), another provision, 31 U.S.C. § 732(f)(2) (1986), grants employees of the GAO the right to a trial de novo in district court following a PAB final decision. I write separately, however, because our rejection of Ra-mey’s construction — one that is not without force — calls for us to say what the language in section 732(f)(2) does mean, lest it be thought that our opinion reads section 732(f)(2) right out of the statute.
Section 732(f)(2) provides, as made clear by its originally enacted language, that nothing in the GAO Personnel Act
shall be construed to abolish or diminish any right or remedy granted to employees of or applicants for employment in the General Accounting Office by section 717 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ... except that ... authorities granted thereunder to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ... (A) involving oversight and appeals, shall be exercised by the General Accounting Office Personnel Appeals Board....
Pub.L. No. 96-191, § 3(g)(3), 94 Stat. 28 (1980). I agree that this language is insufficient to overcome the presumption of exclusive review in the Federal Circuit created by section 755 — especially in light of the anomaly that would be created if employees of the GAO had been given a choice between limited record review in the Federal Circuit and a trial de novo in district court, while restricting the government’s appeal in the very same case to the Federal Circuit for record review. Still, section 732(f)(2) must be given some content. I think that provision was actually designed to give GAO employees the right to sue over an adverse employment decision by the GAO directly in district court under section 717 of Title VII. In other words, section 732(f)(2) does give employees of the GAO an option — but not the one Ramey seeks. An aggrieved GAO employee may choose either to sue his employing agency in district court, or to seek relief from the GAO’s Personnel Appeals Board. Having elected the second route, however, such an employee’s avenue of appeal is limited by section 755, which directs him to the Federal Circuit for limited record review. This interpretation of section 732(f)(2)- avoids the difficulties engendered by Ramey’s construction, but it does not render section 732(f)(2) a nullity. Cf. Crawford Fitting Co. v. J.T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U.S. 437, 442, 107 S.Ct. 2494, 2497, 96 L.Ed.2d 385 (1987) (rejecting an interpretation of a statute that would render specific statutory provisions entirely without meaning).
Ramey’s broader view of section 732(f)(2), namely that it was intended to create parallel avenues of appeal for GAO employees following PAB decisions as executive branch employees enjoy following EEOC action, is properly rejected for yet another reason. The EEOC’s typical role in the private sector is, unlike the PAB, as prosecutor not adjudicator. Regarding government employees the EEOC’s role is quite unusual. It does review the action of agencies, but not in the formal adjudicative manner of the PAB. While the GAO Personnel Act speaks of PAB “decisions” that may be reviewed in the Federal Circuit, Title VII speaks only of EEOC “action.” Compare 31 U.S.C. § 755 with 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(e). But see Moore v. Devine, 780 F.2d 1559, 1562 (11th Cir.1986) (“the administrative scheme envisioned by Congress ... grants to the complaints examiners and the EEOC the power to issue final, binding decisions ordering corrective action by the agency employer”). The EEOC’s jury-rigged role with respect to federal employees is all the more reason to reject Ra-mey’s false parallelism between the EEOC *138and the PAB.1

. To be sure, in a "mixed case” (that is, a case contesting both an adverse employment action under the merit system and its allegedly discriminatory motivation) an executive branch employee can take his case to the MSPB, which in certain respects does resemble the PAB. See 5 U.S.C. § 7702(a); American Fed’n of Gov’t Employees v. Reno, 992 F.2d 331, 332 (D.C.Cir.1993).