Background
Adriana D. Bedoya worked as a U.S. Postal Service mail handler in Las Vegas for four years. The USPS removed her in March 2025 for failing to maintain her assigned schedule, and she appealed the removal to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
The Board warned Bedoya that USPS employees have only limited rights to appeal removals to the Board and directed her to submit evidence and argument establishing jurisdiction. Her response did not address jurisdiction, and the Board dismissed the appeal because she had not made nonfrivolous allegations that she belonged to a category of USPS employees entitled to Board review.
The Court’s Holding
The Federal Circuit affirmed. A USPS employee may appeal to the Board if the employee has completed one year of current continuous service and either is preference eligible or holds a supervisory or managerial position, or performs qualifying nonclerical personnel work. To establish jurisdiction, the employee must make nonfrivolous factual allegations that, if true, would satisfy those requirements.
Bedoya did not allege or offer evidence that she was preference eligible or that her mail-handler position was supervisory, managerial, or involved qualifying personnel work. Her appellate argument that the USPS treated her unfairly because of her medical condition did not establish the Board’s jurisdiction, and she did not challenge the Board’s relevant factual findings, which were supported by substantial evidence. Although she referred to discrimination in a Federal Circuit filing, the record did not show that she had raised a discrimination claim before the Board, so she could not assert it for the first time on review.
Key Takeaways
- USPS employees do not automatically have the right to appeal adverse employment actions to the MSPB.
- An employee seeking Board review must make nonfrivolous factual allegations establishing that the employee falls within a covered statutory category.
- Arguments about unfair treatment or discrimination do not cure a failure to establish MSPB jurisdiction, and a discrimination claim not raised before the Board cannot be introduced for the first time on appeal.
Why It Matters
The nonprecedential decision underscores that MSPB jurisdiction is a threshold requirement separate from the merits of an employee’s removal. Postal employees challenging adverse actions must specifically allege and support facts showing preference eligibility or qualifying job duties, even when proceeding without counsel.