context: The Board has jurisdiction over appeals from certain agency personnel decisions pursuant to 5 U.S.C. SS 7701(a), which provides that "an employee ... may submit an appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board from any action which is appealable to the Board under any law, rule, or regulation." This makes a petitioner's status as an "employee" a prerequisite to having a right of appeal and to Board jurisdiction.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.parenthetical: holding that as an individual with a probationary position in the competitive service, the petitioner was not an "employee" and, therefore, the Board had no jurisdiction at all over her appeal
citation_a.sentence: See Pervez v. Dep’t of the Navy, 193 F.3d 1371 (Fed.Cir.1999) (holding that as an individual with a probationary position in the competitive service, the petitioner was not an “employee” and, therefore, the Board had no jurisdiction at all over her appeal).
citation_b.signal: no signal
citation_b.parenthetical: holding that the petitioner was not entitled to the protections of 5 U.S.C. SSSS 7511(a
citation_b.sentence: Specifically, under 5 U.S.C. §§ 7511-7513, for purposes of appealing a removal action, a petitioner must be included in one of several possible categories in order to meet the definition of “employee.” As a preference eligible individual in the excepted service who had completed less than one year of current continuous service, Vernon is not covered by any of the categories in § 7511(a)(1). Vernon is, thus, not an “employee” under § 7511 and he has no right to appeal. See Horner v. Lucas, 832 F.2d 596 (Fed.Cir.1987) (holding that the petitioner was not entitled to the protections of 5 U.S.C. §§ 7511(a)(1) and 7513 because under § 7511(a)(1)(A) the temporary status of his position in the competitive service prevented him from qualifying as an employee). The Board correctly concluded that it had no jurisdiction to reach the merits of any of Vernon’s claims, including both the claims under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and the claims based on collective bargaining agreements.