Atwell v. Merit Systems Protection Bd., s. 80-2026
| Decision Date | 18 December 1981 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 80-2026,80-2317,80-2116,80-2345 and 80-2313,s. 80-2026 |
| Citation | 216 U.S.App.D.C. 114,670 F.2d 272 |
| Parties | Donald W. ATWELL, et al., Petitioners, v. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD, Respondent. Charles M. DALLA, et al., Petitioners, v. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD, Respondent. Ralph K. CALDWELL, et al., Petitioners, v. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION and Merit Systems Protection Board, Respondents. James D. ALLEN, Petitioner, v. VETERANS ADMINISTRATION and Merit Systems Protection Board, Respondents. Berma F. CARTER and National Federation of Federal Employees, Petitioners, v. John F. LEHMAN, Jr., Secretary, Department of the Navy, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Charles A. Hobbie, Staff Counsel, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Washington, D. C., with whom James R. Rosa, Gen. Counsel, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for petitioners Atwell, et al., in Nos. 80-2026, 80-2116, 80-2317, and 80-2345.
Bruce P. Heppen, Staff Atty., National Federation of Federal Employees, Washington, D. C., with whom Catherine Waelder, Gen. Counsel, National Federation of Federal Employees, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for petitioners Carter and National Federation of Federal Employees in No. 80-2313.
Michael J. Ryan, Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., with whom Charles F. C. Ruff, U. S. Atty., Royce C. Lamberth, and Kenneth M. Raisler, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for respondents.
Jane M. Edmisten, Atty., Merit Systems Protection Board, Washington, D. C., entered an appearance for respondent Merit Systems Protection Board.
Before TAMM, WILKEY and EDWARDS, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge TAMM.
These consolidated cases come before us on review of final orders of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or Board) and present an important issue of first impression arising under the 1978 restructuring of the federal personnel system. Petitioners are employees of various agencies of the federal government, and the employment status of each is governed by the provisions of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA or Act). Although certain constitutional questions are posed as well, the critical issue we must resolve is one of statutory construction and involves the appeal rights of employees whose grade under the federal job classification scheme is reduced. The MSPB, the entity created under the 1978 Act to hear challenges to agency actions adversely affecting the job-related entitlements of employees, concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the appeals pursued by petitioners. As we believe that the Board correctly construed the appellate scheme imposed by the 1978 Act, and as we find no faults of constitutional dimension with that scheme, we affirm.
There is no significant disagreement regarding the facts. Each of the individual petitioners 1 was employed in some capacity by a division of the United States Government during or following 1978. Each petitioner was at the relevant time an "employee" in the civil service of the federal government for the purposes of the position classification and grading scheme used to determine the appropriate level of compensation and related benefits. 2 Similarly, each petitioner was an "employee" as that term is defined in the provisions of the civil service laws that confer on federal workers the right to initiate appellate and grievance procedures. See 5 U.S.C. § 7511(a)(1) (Supp. III 1979).
The current dispute is the product of a federal reclassification of the various positions held by petitioners. Under the civil service laws, an agency is permitted to raise or lower the Government Service grade at which the positions under its administration are set. 5 U.S.C. § 5107 (Supp. III 1979). In performing this reclassification, federal agencies are directed to apply certain objective criteria in an attempt to provide uniform standards applicable across agency lines. Id.; 5 U.S.C. §§ 5110, 5112 (Supp. III 1979). Each of the positions held by petitioners in the instant litigation was reclassified downward pursuant to this process. 3
As noted above, the position classification determinations of an agency are the touchstones by which compensation, responsibility, and related personnel decisions are made. Thus, where the grade of a civil servant's position is lowered, reductions in pay and fringe benefits would ordinarily be the norm, and loss of promotion prospects might also be expected. In recognition, however, of the fact that an employee whose position is reclassified may be harmed through no "fault" of his own, Congress, in structuring the civil service, mandated the provision of certain offsetting benefits where a position is lowered in grade. In most cases, the employee whose position is downgraded is entitled to retain for a two-year period the former grade of the position, and during this period the retained grade is used for the purpose of computing compensation and related fringe perquisites. 5 U.S.C. § 5362 (Supp. III 1979). Furthermore, when the two-year period ends, the employee continues to receive the basic rate of pay that he received before the assignment to the "new" position. 5 U.S.C. § 5363 (Supp. III 1979). Although this scheme is somewhat complex, it suffices to say that the employee whose position is downgraded never has his pay lowered as a net result of the reclassification, and retains his former grade for two years; the affected employee does, however, lose the pay raises and similar benefits that are accorded those occupying positions graded at the level of his former position. 4
Notwithstanding these offsetting emoluments, petitioners sought to challenge administratively their downgradings. Each petitioner sought review of the reduction in grade with the appropriate field office of the MSPB. In each case, the petition was dismissed for want of jurisdiction at the field office level, and in each case the full Board entered a final opinion and order sustaining the dismissals.
The Board applied substantively identical reasoning in denying the appeals. Relying either explicitly or by implication on its decision in Atwell v. Department of the Army, MSPB Order No. PH075299098 (July 25, 1980), Atwell Joint Appendix (A.J.A.) at 43-53, the Board concluded that it lacked jurisdiction under the 1978 reform provisions to hear appeals of reductions in grade where grade and pay retention were mandated. In its Atwell order the Board conceded that, under the legal regimen that obtained prior to the CSRA, a reduction in grade would have been appealable regardless of pay retention; it found, however, that the changes wrought by the 1978 Act altered the prior scheme and precluded any such appeals. Id. at 2, 5, 7-9; A.J.A. at 44, 47, 49-51.
The petitions for review consolidated in the current litigation ensued. Although the facts vary among the individual civil servants, the dispositive legal issues are identical. Petitioners challenge the Board's determination of the contours of its jurisdiction, arguing that that determination is inconsistent both with the plain meaning of the relevant statutory provision and with the intent of the Congress. In the alternative, petitioners argue that if the Board's construction of the CSRA is correct, then the jurisdictional provisions of the Act violate the due process component of the fifth amendment to the federal Constitution and the equal protection guarantees implied in that amendment. Respondents, the Board and several federal agencies, contend that the Board properly delimited its jurisdiction and that the appellate scheme set forth under the 1978 Act comports with the Constitution.
The focal point of this litigation is the civil service scheme currently in force in the United States, a product in part of the CSRA. Our inquiry into the proper construction of the provisions that now govern will, however, be aided by a brief analysis of the pre-CSRA law.
The civil service positions of the United States Government have, since near the end of the 1940's, been classified in a schedule of grades according to the responsibilities and demands of the functions performed. The basic themes of the classification scheme have remained constant to this day: civil servants performing substantially equal work should receive equal pay, and variations in compensation should reflect the differences in responsibilities, qualifications, and demands of the covered positions. See 5 U.S.C. § 5101 (1976). Under the pre-CSRA regime, the Civil Service Commission was empowered to set objective standards applicable across agency lines to ensure attainment of the congressional aims noted above. See 5 U.S.C. § 5107 (1976) (amended 1978).
An unfortunate but necessary concomitant of a classification scheme is the need to reclassify positions where necessary to correct earlier error or to respond to alterations in circumstances. Upward reclassifications seldom cause alarm or irritation to those "subjected" to them; downward ones, however, can pose significant immediate financial losses and long-term career damage. 5 See Report of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service on the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, H.R.Rep.No. 1403, 95th Cong., 2d Sess. 13 (1978), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News p. 2723. (hereinafter House Report No. 1403).
The pre-CSRA civil service scheme responded to the inequities posed by downgrading in two ways. First, Congress sought to lessen the financial sacrifice imposed by a reduction in grade through salary retention. Under the provision in effect immediately prior to the passage of the CSRA, an employee subjected to a reduction in grade was entitled to receive for two years the basic rate of...
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