Tomscha v. Merit System Protection Board

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Tomscha v. Merit System Protection Board, 36 F. App'x 455 (Fed. Cir. 2002)

Tomscha v. Merit System Protection Board

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM:

Larry Tomscha seeks review of the decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board, No. DA0752990272-I-2 (April 25, 2001), denying his motion to intervene in Joseph F. Palazzolo’s proceeding. We affirm.

Tomscha, one of Palazzolo’s counterparts, is a New York regional vice president of the American Federation for Government Employees Council 236. On August 12, 2000, he filed a motion to intervene, accompanied by an affidavit, in support of Palazzolo’s petition for review of his removal by the General Services Administration. The board denied Toms-cha’s motion because he did not demonstrate that he would have been affected directly by the outcome of Palazzolo’s proceeding. Tomscha asserts that Palaz-zolo’s removal affects his ability to make disclosures regarding GSA’s activities without fear of reprisal.

Under Merit Systems Protection Board regulations, a person, organization, or agency may permissively intervene in a board proceeding. See 5 C.F.R. § 1201.34(c)(1) (2002). “A motion for permission to intervene will be granted where the requester will be affected directly by the outcome of the proceeding.” Id. at § 1201.34(c)(2).

We must affirm the final decision of the board unless we determine that it is “(1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (2) obtained without procedures required by law, rule, or regulation having been followed; or (3) unsupported by substantial evidence.” 5 U.S.C. § 7703(c) (2000).

Tomscha’s affidavit does not provide any detail of how he was directly affected by the outcome of Palazzolo’s proceeding. *456Accordingly, we decline to disturb the board’s ruling.

Reference

Full Case Name
Larry TOMSCHA v. MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD
Status
Published