NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
2009-3078
BERNARDITA B. ARMACHUELO,
Petitioner,
v.
MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD,
Respondent.
Bernardita B. Armachuelo, of Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines, pro se.
Joyce G. Friedman, Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, Merit Systems
Protection Board, of Washington, DC, for respondent. With her on the brief were B.
Chad Bungard, General Counsel, and Keisha Dawn Bell, Deputy General Counsel.
Appealed from: Merit Systems Protection Board
NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
2009-3078
BERNARDITA B. ARMACHUELO,
Petitioner,
v.
MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD,
Respondent.
Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board
in SF0831080423-I-1.
___________________________
DECIDED: July 9, 2009
___________________________
Before MICHEL, Chief Judge, BRYSON, Circuit Judge, and SPENCER, Chief District
Judge. *
PER CURIAM.
DECISION
Bernardita B. Armachuelo challenges the decision of the Merit Systems
Protection Board dismissing her appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We affirm.
∗ The Honorable James R. Spencer, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.
BACKGROUND
Ms. Armachuelo’s husband, Jeremias V. Armachuelo, resigned from the federal
service on August 21, 1953. At the time of his resignation, Mr. Armachuelo was 30
years old and had completed just over seven years of service with the government. He
was therefore ineligible for an immediate annuity when he resigned, but he became
eligible to receive a deferred annuity on May 23, 1985, when he turned 62. See 5
U.S.C. § 8338. The Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”) granted him a deferred
annuity in 1991. Since her husband’s death in 2006, Ms. Armachuelo has received an
annuity as his surviving spouse.
On January 18, 2008, OPM issued a final decision denying Ms. Armachuelo’s
request for enrollment in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (“FEHBP”).
Ms. Armachuelo claimed that she was entitled to enroll in the FEHBP because she was
receiving a survivor annuity. OPM explained that separated employees who retire
under a deferred annuity pursuant to section 8338 are not eligible to enroll in the
FEHBP, and for that reason, Ms. Armachuelo, as the surviving spouse of a deferred
retiree, was not eligible to enroll in the program. In its final decision, OPM advised Ms.
Armachuelo that there “will be no further administrative review of this matter and you
have no further appeal rights.”
Ms. Armachuelo appealed OPM’s final decision to the Board. In response, OPM
moved that the appeal be dismissed on the ground that OPM decisions regarding health
plan enrollment are not reviewable by the Board. The administrative judge who was
assigned to the appeal afforded the parties an opportunity to address whether the Board
had jurisdiction over Ms. Armachuelo’s appeal. Ms. Armachuelo did not respond to that
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order, and the administrative judge then issued an initial decision dismissing Ms.
Armachuelo’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction. After the full Board denied her petition for
review, Ms. Armachuelo petitioned for review by this court.
DISCUSSION
The Board’s jurisdiction is restricted to actions specifically made appealable to
the Board by law, rule, or regulation. 5 U.S.C. § 7701(a); Roberts v. Dep’t of the Army,
168 F.3d 22, 23-24 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (“It is well established that the Board’s authority to
accept an appeal is not plenary, but is limited to those matters over which it has been
given jurisdiction by some statute or regulation.”). OPM’s decision denying Ms.
Armachuelo’s request for benefits under the FEHBP is not an action made appealable
to the Board by law. As the administrative judge explained, OPM determinations
concerning health plan enrollment are final and not reviewable by the Board. See
Oppenheim v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 51 M.S.P.R. 255, 257 (1991); Mitchell v. Office of
Pers. Mgmt., 25 M.S.P.R. 186, 189 (1984).
Citing the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 65-454, 92 Stat. 1111
(1978) (“CSRA”), Ms. Armachuelo asserts that the Board has jurisdiction to review any
“significant action” taken by OPM. But the CSRA, which created both the Board and
OPM, expressly limits the Board’s jurisdiction to those actions made appealable by law,
rule, or regulation. 92 Stat. at 1138, § 205. Although many OPM actions are
appealable to the Board, decisions regarding FEHBP enrollment are not. The Board
therefore did not err in ruling that it lacked jurisdiction over Ms. Armachuelo’s appeal.
Because the administrative judge clearly stated why the Board lacked jurisdiction over
2009-3078 3
her appeal and cited pertinent legal authority in support of that conclusion, we reject Ms.
Armachuelo’s contention that the Board dismissed her appeal without explanation.
The government notes that instead of appealing to the Board Ms. Armachuelo
could have pressed her claim either in a district court or in the Court of Federal Claims
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 8912. That section provides that the “district courts of the United
States have original jurisdiction, concurrent with the United States Court of Federal
Claims, of a civil action or claim against the United States founded on” chapter 89,
pursuant to which the FEHBP was created. 5 U.S.C. § 8912; see id. § 8903; 5 C.F.R.
§ 890.107. Ms. Armachuelo objects that she is unfamiliar with the rules applicable to
claims against the government and therefore did not know that the Board lacked
jurisdiction over her appeal. In its final decision denying her request for enrollment in
the FEHBP, however, OPM informed Ms. Armachuelo that she was not entitled to
further administrative review of her claim. OPM therefore put her on notice that she
could not appeal that decision either within OPM or to the Board. We note that the
Board’s dismissal of Ms. Armachuelo’s appeal is without prejudice to her filing suit in an
appropriate court under section 8912, although we make no determination as to
whether such a claim would be timely or otherwise eligible for review under that section.
For the reasons stated above, we affirm the Board’s dismissal of Ms. Armachuelo’s
appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
2009-3078 4