Elizondo

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiff John F. Elizondo appeals the district court’s dismissal of his Title VII *679 national origin discrimination claim against Defendant Secretary of the Department of the Navy. The district court held that it lacked jurisdiction because Plaintiff had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. On de novo review, Vinieratos v. United States, 939 F.2d 762 , 767-68 (9th Cir.1991), we reverse and remand.

1. Plaintiff raised the issue of national origin discrimination before the Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB”) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and presented a prima facie case (evidence of his national origin and his firing, along with evidence that there was no legitimate reason to fire him). The MSPB and the EEOC understood that the issue was before them and they ruled on the merits that the Navy had a legitimate, non-pretextual reason to fire Plaintiff. Therefore, the district court erred when it held that the claim was unexhausted. Cf. Jasch v. Potter, 302 F.3d 1092, 1095-96 (9th Cir.2002) (“In short, if an agency reaches the merits of a claim, ... administrative remedies should be presumed sufficiently exhausted to permit suit…