Julian R. Hood, Jr. v. Merit Systems Protection Board

A partially recovered federal employee may appeal an agency’s failure to restore him to employment under 5 U.S.C. § 8151 and 5 C.F.R. § 353.304(c). The Federal Circuit affirmed dismissal of petitioner’s 2024 restoration appeal on issue­ preclusion grounds because earlier Board proceedings had determined that his 2003 separation was not due to a compensable injury, although the 2024 appeal arose from a new restoration request, an alleged new agency denial, and a later-developed administrative record. The question presented is: Whether a prior jurisdictional dismissal precludes a later federal restoration appeal arising from postjudgment agency conduct without first determining whether intervening facts or a materially distinct causal theory changed the jurisdictional issue actually and necessarily decided.