Morris v. OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE

608 F.3d 1344, 188 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2848, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 11821, 2010 WL 2302639
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedJune 10, 2010
Docket2009-6001
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 608 F.3d 1344 (Morris v. OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morris v. OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE, 608 F.3d 1344, 188 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2848, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 11821, 2010 WL 2302639 (Fed. Cir. 2010).

Opinion

BRYSON, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Brian Morris served as an officer in the United States Capitol Police (“USCP”). Members of the USCP are among those employees affected by the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (“the CAA”), which extends the coverage of various labor and employment statutes to employees of the legislative branch. See 2 U.S.C. § 1302(a). Officer Morris, relying on provisions of the CAA, appeals from a decision of the Board of Directors of the Office of Compliance (“the Board”), which denied exceptions to an arbitrator’s decision rejecting Officer Morris’s request for arbitration. The first issue that we must address — and the one that is dispositive — is whether this court has jurisdiction over Officer Morris’s appeal.

On June 9, 2006, Officer Morris was discovered using a vacant office for personal reasons when he was supposed to be working. After an investigation, the USCP’s Disciplinary Review Officer proposed that Officer Morris be terminated. Officer Morris exercised his contractual right under the applicable collective bargaining agreement to contest the proposed discipline before the USCP’s Disciplinary Review Board (“DRB”). The DRB recommended reducing the penalty to a 12-day suspension. However, on July 16, 2007, the USCP’s Deputy Chief of Police issued a memorandum in which he rejected the DRB’s recommendation and stated that “the recommendation of termination is hereby imposed.”

In response to that memorandum, Officer Morris filed a grievance and requested an “expedited arbitration” under the collective bargaining agreement. The USCP denied his request on the ground that the Deputy Chiefs memorandum was merely a “proposed disciplinary action” and there *1346 fore did not qualify for expedited arbitration under the collective bargaining agreement. On August 24, 2007, Officer Morris resubmitted his request for expedited arbitration and asserted that “[wjhether a matter is appropriate for arbitration must be decided by an arbitrator.” After several rounds of correspondence between the parties, the USCP agreed to arbitration solely to address the issue of whether arbitration was proper. Meanwhile, Officer Morris received notice that his termination had been approved and would become effective as of October 12, 2007. On November 21, 2007, Officer Morris filed another request for expedited arbitration to contest his termination.

On January 18, 2008, the arbitrator determined that Officer Morris could not challenge his termination through expedited arbitration because both of his requests for expedited arbitration were untimely. The arbitrator ruled that Officer Morris’s first request was premature because the action he was contesting at that time was only a “proposed disciplinary action.” The arbitrator ruled that his second request was filed after the expiration of the 20-day period provided by the collective bargaining agreement for seeking arbitration. Officer Morris submitted exceptions to the Board, which the Board denied. Officer Morris now appeals from the Board’s decision. He asserts that this court has jurisdiction under 2 U.S.C. § 1351(c)(3).

It is a “well-established principle that federal courts, as opposed to state trial courts of general jurisdiction, are courts of limited jurisdiction marked out by Congress.” Chertkov v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 52 F.3d 961, 966 (Fed.Cir.1995). The jurisdiction of this court is “limited to those subjects encompassed within a statutory grant of jurisdiction.” Ins. Corp. of Ir. v. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, 456 U.S. 694, 701, 102 S.Ct. 2099, 72 L.Ed.2d 492 (1982).

In many respects, the rights granted to legislative employees by the CAA are identical to rights granted to executive employees. See 2 U.S.C. § 1351(a)(1); 2 U.S.C. § 1302(a)(7). Those rights include the right to have an independent agency review arbitration decisions. See 2 U.S.C. § 1351(c)(1); 2 U.S.C. § 1381; Duncan v. Office of Compliance, 541 F.3d 1377, 1379 (Fed.Cir.2008) (“The Office of Compliance is an independent agency within the legislative branch charged with enforcing the CAA.”). In addition, Congress gave the Board and its General Counsel authority with respect to legislative branch employees similar to that exercised by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (“FLRA”) and its General Counsel with respect to executive branch employees. See 2 U.S.C. § 1351(c)(1), (2).

As to the right of judicial review of the independent agency’s decisions, however, Congress enacted a provision for legislative employees that is significantly different from the parallel provision for executive employees. For executive employees, Congress provided that “[a] ny person aggrieved” may obtain judicial review of final orders of the FLRA other than those orders involving an appropriate unit determination or arbitration awards not involving unfair labor practices. 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a). For legislative employees, however, Congress used more restrictive language. In 2 U.S.C. § 1351(c)(3), Congress provided as follows:

Except for matters referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 7123(a) of Title 5, the General Counsel or the respondent to the complaint, if aggrieved by a final decision of the Board under [2 *1347 U.S.C. § 1351(c)(1) or (2) ], may file a petition for judicial review in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Thus, rather than extending the right of judicial review to “any person aggrieved” by a Board decision, as in 5 U.S.C. § 7123, Congress limited the right of judicial review to “the General Counsel [of the Office of Compliance] or the respondent to the complaint [alleging an unfair labor practice].” 1

Congress used similar limiting language in 2 U.S.C. § 1407, which grants jurisdiction to this court to hear appeals filed by “the General Counsel or a respondent before the Board ...

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608 F.3d 1344, 188 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2848, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 11821, 2010 WL 2302639, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morris-v-office-of-compliance-cafc-2010.