NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
2006-3398
ELVIRA M. METCALFE,
Petitioner,
v.
MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD,
Respondent.
Elvira M. Metcalfe, of Oakland, California, pro se.
Sara B. Rearden, Attorney, Office of General Counsel, United States Merit
Systems Protection Board, of Washington, DC, for respondent. With her on the brief
was Thomas N. Auble, Attorney.
Appealed from: United States Merit Systems Protection Board
NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
2006-3398
ELVIRA M. METCALFE,
Petitioner,
v.
MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD,
Respondent.
__________________________
DECIDED: January 19, 2007
__________________________
Before NEWMAN, SCHALL, and MOORE, Circuit Judges.
NEWMAN, Circuit Judge.
Elvira M. Metcalfe petitions for review of the decision of the Merit Systems
Protection Board, Docket No. SF0752060352-I-1, dismissing her appeal for lack of
jurisdiction and as untimely filed. We affirm the decision of the Board.
BACKGROUND
Ms. Metcalf resigned from her position as a Human Resource Assistant in the Forest
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, effective Feb. 8, 2002, in lieu of removal. She
subsequently signed a settlement agreement waiving any rights she might have against the
agency or its employees, agreeing to withdraw her appeal to the Board and a pending EEO
complaint, and agreeing to refrain from further litigation relating to her employment with the
agency. The settlement agreement was entered into the Board record and her case
dismissed as settled on April 24, 2002.
On May 10, 2002, Ms. Metcalf filed a petition for enforcement with the Board alleging
that the written agreement was not in compliance with the oral agreement she had reached
with the agency. She and the agency then negotiated and agreed to certain changes in the
language of the agreement, and the Board dismissed the petition for enforcement as
settled.
On Jan. 19, 2006, Ms. Metcalf filed another appeal with the Board claiming she had
been forced to resign from the Human Resource Assistant position and seeking
reinstatement so that she could transfer to another agency with continuity of service. She
also requested punitive damages. The Board observed that the appeal appeared to have
been settled and ordered Ms. Metcalfe to file evidence and argument to establish that the
Board had jurisdiction over her appeal. The Board also noted that the appeal was untimely,
having been filed more than three years after the effective date of the action challenged,
rather than within the statutory period of 30 days. Finding Ms. Metcalfe's response
inadequate to establish either involuntariness of her resignation or grounds for waiver of the
untimeliness of her filing, the Board dismissed the appeal and this petition followed.
2006-3398 2
DISCUSSION
A settlement agreement between an agency and an appellant before the Board is
the final and binding resolution of the appeal. See 5 C.F.R. §1201.41(c)(2)("Agreement. If
the parties agree to settle their dispute, the settlement agreement is the final and binding
resolution of the appeal, and the judge will dismiss the appeal with prejudice."). This court
will set aside a settlement agreement only if the petitioner shows that it was unlawful,
involuntary, or the result of fraud or mutual mistake. See Sargent v. Dept. of Health and
Human Services, 229 F.3d 1088, 1091 (Fed. Cir. 2000) ("It is well-established that in order
to set aside a settlement, an appellant must show that the agreement is unlawful, was
involuntary, or was the result of fraud or mutual mistake.") (citing Wade v. Dep't of Veteran
Affairs, 61 M.S.P.R. 580, 583 (1994)).
In its Initial Decision, the Board found the settlement agreement was lawful on its
face, freely entered into, and that the parties understood the terms of the agreement. The
fact that Ms. Metcalfe faced the unpleasant choices of accepting the settlement agreement
or challenging a removal action does not render the choice coerced. See Schultz v. United
States Navy, 810 F.2d 1133, 2236 (Fed. Cir. 1987) ("[W]here an employee is faced merely
with the unpleasant alternatives of resigning or being subject to removal for cause, such
limited choices do not make the resulting resignation an involuntary act."). Ms. Metcalf has
not shown that her settlement agreement was coerced, and the Board properly dismissed
her appeal as settled.
Nor did the Board err in granting the agency's motion to dismiss the appeal as
untimely filed. Ms. Metcalfe's appeal was filed more than three years late. In her attempt
to justify the late filing, Ms. Metcalfe mentioned "long term indefinite and/or permanent
2006-3398 3
medical injuries." However, she does not identify those medical injuries and why they
precluded earlier filing. The record shows that she prosecuted other litigation during the
same time frame, such as appeal of the denial of state unemployment compensation
claims.
The Board correctly concluded that Ms. Metcalfe had not demonstrated that her late
filing should be excused.
2006-3398 4