Martin v. Opm

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Martin v. Opm

Opinion

Case: 23-2419 Document: 6 Page: 1 Filed: 12/14/2023

NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

JANET M. MARTIN, Petitioner

v.

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, Respondent ______________________

2023-2419 ______________________

Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in No. DE-0831-23-0256-I-1. ______________________

ON MOTION ______________________

Before PROST, HUGHES, and STOLL, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM. ORDER The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) moves to dismiss this petition for lack of jurisdiction. Janet M. Mar- tin has not responded. On September 18, 2023, Ms. Martin filed a timely peti- tion with the Merit Systems Protection Board seeking re- view of an administrative judge’s initial decision. The Case: 23-2419 Document: 6 Page: 2 Filed: 12/14/2023

2 MARTIN v. OPM

following day, this court received her petition to review the same initial decision. This court does not yet have authority to decide this case. Although this court has jurisdiction to review final orders or final decisions of the Board, see 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9); see also Weed v. Soc. Sec. Admin., 571 F.3d 1359, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2009), Ms. Martin’s pending timely petition at the Board renders the initial decision non-final for purposes of our jurisdiction. See 5 U.S.C. § 7701(e)(1)(A) (providing that the initial decision does not become final if a party timely petitions the Board for re- view); 5 C.F.R. § 1201.113(a) (“The initial decision will not become the Board’s final decision if within the time limit for filing . . . any party files a petition for review . . . .”). Two potential paths to this court’s review are available. First, Ms. Martin may wait to receive a final determination from the Board on her petition, at which point she may seek this court’s review by filing a timely petition here if neces- sary. Alternatively, Ms. Martin may file a motion at the Board to withdraw her petition pursuant to the June 2022 policy specified on the Board’s website. * Under that policy, the Clerk of the Board may grant requests to withdraw a petition for review when there is no apparent issue of un- timeliness with the petition and no other party objects to the withdrawal. When the Clerk grants a request to with- draw, the order granting the request will be the final order of the Board for purposes of obtaining judicial review. Accordingly,

* Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., Policy Regarding Clerk’s Au- thority to Grant Requests to Withdraw Petitions for Re- view (2022), https://www.mspb.gov/appeals/files/Policy_Regard- ing_Withdrawal_of_a_Petition_for_Review_1515773.pdf (last visited October 26, 2023). Case: 23-2419 Document: 6 Page: 3 Filed: 12/14/2023

MARTIN v. OPM 3

IT IS ORDERED THAT: (1) The motion to dismiss is granted. The petition for review is dismissed. (2) Each side shall bear its own costs. FOR THE COURT

December 14, 2023 Date

ISSUED AS A MANDATE: December 14, 2023

Reference

Status
Unpublished