Williams v. United States Department of Labor

MEMORANDUM

Anthony L. Williams petitions pro se for review of the Department of Labor’s Ad ministrative Review Board (“ARB”) order denying his complaint under the Whistle-blower Protection Provision of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (“AIR 21”), 49 U.S.C. § 42121 . We have jurisdiction under 49 U.S.C. § 42121 (b)(4)(A). We review the ARB’s decision pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). Id. Under the APA, “the ARB’s legal conclusions must be sustained unless they are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law, and its findings of fact must be sustained unless they are unsupported by substantial evidence in the record as a whole.” Calmat Co. v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor, 364 F.3d 1117, 1121 (9th Cir.2004). We deny the petition.

The ARB properly denied Williams’s complaint as untimely and concluded that equitable principles did not apply to toll the limitations period. See 29 C.F.R. § 1979.103 (d) (requiring a complainant file an administrative complaint “[w]ithin 90 days after an alleged violation of [AIR 21] occurs”); Stoll v. Runyon, 165 F.3d 1238, 1242 (9th Cir.1999) (“Equitable…