Filipczyk v. United States

386 F. App'x 973
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided October 1, 2010·No. No. 2010-5009·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Rafal Filipczyk appeals the United States Court of Federal Claims’ dismissal of his request for lodging expense reimbursement due to lack of jurisdiction, and in the alternative, summary judgment in favor of the Government action denying his request. Because we agree that Mr. Filipczyk is not entitled to the requested reimbursement as a matter of law, we affirm the summary judgment of the Court of Federal Claims.

Background

Mr. Filipczyk is a civilian employee of the Naval Oceanographic Office (“NAVO-CEANO”). He is regularly assigned temporary duty aboard naval ships traveling across open waters and docked in foreign ports. Certain terms of Mr. Filipczyk’s employment conditions are governed by a Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) between his employer, NAVOCEANO, and his labor union, American Federation of Government Employees Local 1028. One such term is that NAVOCEANO does not reimburse employees for lodging costs incurred during the first forty-eight hours in port.

While a ship is in open waters, employees on board are lodged in shipboard quarters. When the ship is docked in port, the employees are free to leave the ship during their off-duty hours. At night, the employees have the option of sleeping in their shipboard quarters, or staying at a hotel in town. Shipboard quarters are provided to employees free of charge at all times. Per the CBA, NAVOCEANO will reimburse employees for hotel costs in[975]*975curred after the first forty-eight consecutive hours in port. Thus, if an employee wishes to stay at a hotel the first night or two in port, the CBA requires that he do so at his own expense.

In September of 2007, Mr. Filipczyk was serving on board a ship that docked at Naha, Japan, for three days. Mr. Filip-czyk rented a hotel for three nights, September 25-28, one of which nights was during the first forty-eight hours in port. The following month, Mr. Filipczyk’s ship docked at Saesbo, Japan, and Mr. Filip-czyk rented Government quarters on shore for two nights during the first forty-eight hours in port. Mr. Filipczyk submitted documentation for all of his incurred lodging expenses when he returned to his permanent station at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. NAVOCEANO refused to reimburse Mr. Filipczyk for the lodging expenses incurred during his first night in Naha and his first two nights in Saesbo. The amount of the non-reimbursed expenses totaled $175.17.

Mr. Filipczyk appealed the denial of his reimbursement request to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (“CBCA”), alleging violations of the Travel Expense Act 5 U.S.C. §§ 5702(a)(1), (a)(2); 41 C.F.R. § 301-11.3., the Defense Housing Management Manual, 5 U.S.C. § 5911(e), and the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Act (“FSLMRA”) 5 U.S.C. §§ 7101-35. The CBCA dismissed the claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, because the claim pertained to a provision of the CBA. The CBA sets forth exclusive administrative procedures for resolving grievances, and appeal to the CBCA is not one of those procedures.

In September of 2008, Mr. Filipczyk filed a compliant in the Court of Federal Claims seeking vacatur of the CBCA’s dismissal of his appeal. The Court of Federal Claims dismissed Mr. Filipczyk’s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the claim did not seek monetary relief as required under the Tucker Act. See 28 U.S.C. § 1491(a)(1). The Court of Federal Claims also noted in its opinion that it did not have jurisdiction to review decisions of the CBCA.

In January of 2009, Mr. Filipczyk filed a second complaint in the Court of Federal Claims seeking money damages in the amount of $175.17, pursuant to the Travel Expense Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 5702(a)(1) and (a)(2). He also included the allegations previously brought to the CBCA that the travel provision of the CBA violated various federal statutes and regulations.

The Court of Federal Claims found that it did not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Filipczyk’s complaint that the CBA violated the FSLMRA, § 5911(e), or the Defense Housing Management Manual, because none of those sources of law confer a substantive right to money damages against the United States. The Court of Federal Claims held that the Federal Labor Relations Authority (“FLRA”) has exclusive jurisdiction to hear claims related to the FSLMRA, providing an additional reason why the Court of Federal Claims has no jurisdiction to hear that claim.

Mr. Filipczyk moved for reconsideration, arguing that the money-mandating Travel Expense Act provides a jurisdictional hook for his non-money-mandating FSLMRA, § 5911(e), and Housing Manual claims. He reasoned that evaluating the legality of the CBA is inseparable from and necessary for determining whether he is entitled to money damages under the Travel Expense Act. See Holley v. United, States, 124 F.3d 1462, 1465 (Fed.Cir.1997).

The Court of Federal Claims denied the motion, and held that Tucker Act jurisdiction requires each claim presented to arise independently from a money-mandating [976]*976statute. In the alternative, the Court of Federal Claims found that if it possessed jurisdiction over the § 5911(e) claim, then the Government was entitled to summary judgment that the CBA did not violate the cited provision under Court of Federal Claims precedent. Finally, the Court of Federal Claims found that the Government was entitled to summary judgment that the CBA travel provision did not violate the Travel Expense Act. The Court of Federal Claims found that federal agencies have wide discretion in setting per diem allowances. The cited statute and regulation provide for per diem allowances, but do not specify any minimum amount or whether any restrictions may apply.

Mr. Filipczyk timely appealed to this court. This court has jurisdiction over appeals from the Court of Federal Claims under 28 U.S.C. 1295(a)(3). On appeal, Mr. Filipczyk contends that the Court of Federal Claims erred in dismissing his claims under the FSLMRA and Defense Housing Manual, and erred in granting summary judgment as to his claims under the FSLMRA and Travel Expense Act. We address each claim below.

DISCUSSION

Both parties acknowledge that there were no issues of fact in dispute before the Court of Federal Claims, and that every one of Mr. Filipczyk’s claims is properly resolved as a matter of law. The dispute on appeal is only whether the various legal questions presented were properly decided. We review the Court of Federal Claims’ legal conclusions, determinations of jurisdiction, and award of summary judgment without deference. Pennington Seed, Inc. v. Produce Exch. No. 299, 457 F.3d 1334, 1338 (Fed.Cir.2006); Suess v. United States, 535 F.3d 1348, 1359 (Fed.Cir.2008);

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