DECISION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
This case comes before the Board pursuant to Complainant Perez=s appeal from the Order of the Hearing Officer granting Respondent Office of Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee=s motion to dismiss her administrative Complaint. In her Complaint, Perez alleges that Representative Lee=s Office discriminated against her on the basis of her race and sex in violation of section 201 of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA), 2 U.S.C. 1311. The Hearing Officer granted the motion of Respondent to dismiss based upon Perez=s failure to file a timely request for counseling pursuant to section 402 of the CAA, 2 U.S.C. 1402; her failure to timely file her administrative Complaint pursuant to section 404 of the CAA, 2 U.S.C. 1404; and the absence of grounds for equitable tolling of the application of either time requirement in this case. Since this matter comes before the Board on procedural and jurisdictional grounds, we express no opinion regarding the merit or lack of merit of the underlying claims.
Standard of Review
Section 406 (c) of the CAA states:
The Board shall set aside a decision of a hearing officer if the Board determines that the decision was –
- arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not consistent with law;
- not made consistent with required procedures; or
- unsupported by substantial evidence.
The Board applies that standard to this matter.
Procedural history of this case.
Complainant Perez was fired from her position as an assistant in the Congresswoman=s Houston (Texas) district office on September 23, 2003. Perez=s request for counseling was faxed to the Office of Compliance on June 14, 2004. Section 402(a) of the CAA states that A[a] request for counseling shall be made not later than 180 days after the date of the alleged violation.@ 2 U.S.C. 1402(a). Section 2.03(c) of the Procedural Rules of the Office of Compliance in effect at the time stated:
