Leslie Kerr v. Sally Jewell

Leslie Kerr, a former employee of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), contended she was discriminated and retaliated against in violation of Title VII and retaliated against in violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA). Kerr presented her claims to FWS’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office, which denied her Title VII claims on the merits and dismissed her WPA claim for lack of jurisdiction. Rather than appealing the EEO office’s decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which had jurisdiction to review the WPA claim on the merits, Kerr filed a civil action in federal district court, asserting both her Title VII claims and her WPA claim. The district court dismissed the WPA claim for lack of jurisdiction based on Kerr’s failure to present the claim to the MSPB. Kerr appeals, and we affirm.

We hold, first, that the statutory scheme governing the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) and the WPA did not authorize Kerr to file her WPA claim in district court without first presenting it to the MSPB. Kerr has what is known as a “mixed case,” because she challenges a serious personnel action — her removal — on account of discrimination. In…