Absent a statutory command, federal courts will not invalidate an agency’s decision solely for exceeding a statutory deadline. Image: Rex Wholster/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA federal appeals court has refused to overturn a disciplinary action on grounds that the agency missed a procedural deadline, saying that the agency took “reasonably diligent steps” to meet the deadline.
Case No. 23-60191 before the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit involved what was at first a proposed removal of a VA employee that was sent to her while she was on leave; she responded after the period to do so had expired. The department in turn was late in issuing its final decision, which reduced the penalty to a 15-day suspension.
Among numerous other contentions in the appeal was the employee’s assertion that the final decision was invalid because it was untimely—”that if she must strictly abide by the statutory deadlines in filing her response to the proposed discipline, the agency should be held to the same standard,” as the court characterized it.
However, the court said she previously had known that a disciplinary process was under way, since she had submitted comments and participated in meetings regarding it. When officials realized she was on leave on the date of issuing the initial decision, they sent a copy to her work email address and mailed copies through UPS and USPS to her home address, it noted.
“Absent a statutory command, federal courts will not invalidate an agency’s decision solely for exceeding a statutory deadline,” the opinion said. “In the federal employment context, an agency’s failure to meet the statutory deadline for disciplinary decisions is considered a procedural error; harm to the employee must be shown, with the employee bearing the burden of showing harm.”
It said the employee did not show that she had suffered harm by the delay, nor that the law “stripped the VA of authority to act beyond the statutory deadline.”
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