Carolyn M. Kloeckner, Petitioner v. Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Labor (568 U.S. 41)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 10, 2012 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 568 U.S. 41 · 133 S. Ct. 596
- Decided
- December 10, 2012
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Kagan
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court. A federal employee subjected to an adverse personnel action such as a discharge or demotion may appeal her agency’s decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or Board). See 5 U. S. C. §§ 7512, 7701. In that challenge, the employee may claim, among other things, that the agency discriminated against her in violation of a federal statute. See § 7702(a)(1). The question presented in this case arises when the MSPB dismisses an appeal alleging discrimination not on the merits, but on procedural grounds. Should an employee seeking judicial review then file a petition in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, or instead bring a suit in district court under the applicable antidiscrimination law? We hold she should go to district court. I A The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA), 5 U. S. C. § 1101 et seq., establishes a framework for evaluating personnel actions taken against federal employees. That statutory framework provides graduated procedural protections depending on an action’s severity. If (but only if) the action is particularly serious—involving, for example, a removal from employment or a reduction in grade or pay—the affected employee has a right to appeal the agency’s decision to the MSPB, an independent adjudicator of federal employment disputes. See §§1204, 7512, 7701. Such an appeal may' merely…
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