An individual can appeal to the MSPB after the department issues a decision or if it fails to issue one within 60 days. Image: ALDECA studio/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA federal appeals court has upheld the MSPB in a ruling that serves as a reminder of the procedures that must be followed when asserting that an agency did not properly apply veterans preference in hiring.
Case No. 2024-1565 before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit involved an assertion that the GSA did not properly consider an applicant’s 30 percent disabled veterans preference when not selecting him for a program analyst position. The veteran then filed an appeal directly with the MSPB. However a hearing officer, and then later the full board dismissed the appeal on grounds that he did not meet his obligation to first bring such a complaint before the Labor Department.
The court agreed, saying that for MSPB to have jurisdiction in a complaint brought under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act, the individual must establish eligibility under the law; make a “nonfrivolous” allegation that an agency violated it; and “show that he exhausted his remedies” with the Department of Labor first.
In that process, it said, an individual can appeal to the MSPB after the department issues a decision or if it fails to issue one within 60 days. The individual in this case had not shown that he went through that process, and so the case was dismissed.
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