“When a federal employee petitions the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to review a final decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board, 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1)(A) provides: ‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any petition for review shall be filed within 60 days after the Board issues notice of the final order or decision of the Board.’ In the decision below, the Federal Circuit relied on settled circuit precedent holding this filing deadline to be jurisdictional, despite recent opinions from other Circuits and this Court holding analogous filing deadlines to be nonjurisdictional.”
“The question presented is whether the 60-day deadline in Section 7703(b)(1)(A) is jurisdictional.”
“A federal employee subjected to an adverse personnel action may complain to the Merit Systems Protection Board. If the Board rules against him, he may appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ‘within 60 days.’ 5 U. S. C. §7703(b)(1). The question presented is whether that 60-day limit is ‘jurisdictional,’ and therefore precludes equitable exceptions. We hold that the limit, like most filing deadlines, is not jurisdictional.”
