Brundin v. Smithsonian Institution

Judith A. Brundin petitions for review of the Administrative Judges ("AJ") initial decision of May 8, 1998, rendered final by the Merit Systems Protection Board ("Board") decision of March 3, 1999 declining review. See Brundin v. Smithsonian Inst., Docket No. NY-1221-97-0016-B-1. The AJs initial decision dismissed Ms. Brundins Individual Right of Action ("IRA") appeal for lack of jurisdiction. In her IRA appeal, Ms. Brundin alleges that her resignation from the Smithsonian Institution ("agency") was involuntary and the result of agency retaliatory harassment, which occurred after she made disclosures protected under the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, Pub. L. No. 101-12, 103 Stat. 16 (codified in scattered sections of 5 U.S.C.) ("WPA"). With her appeal, Ms. Brundin seeks, inter alia, reinstatement to her former position at the agency. Because Ms. Brundin did not meet her burden of establishing that the agency engaged in a prohibited personnel action, the Board correctly dismissed her IRA appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Therefore, we affirm.