DECISION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
This case is before the Board on the petition of Appellant Steven Patterson (“Patterson” or “Appellant”), an employee of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol (“AOC” or “Appellee”), seeking review of the Hearing Officer’s decision granting AOC’s motion for summary judgment, pursuant to Section 5.03(d) of the Procedural Rules of the Office of Compliance.
I. Background
Appellant, who worked as a grade 10 Woodcrafter for the AOC applied for a vacant position as Wood Crafter Leader. On October 17, 2006, he was interviewed for the position and on November 3, 2006 was advised that he had not been selected.
Shortly after the interview, Appellant complained to his supervisor about the interview process, some of which he believed violated AOC’s Personnel Manual, Chapter 335, Career Staffing (“Chapter 335”). He filed an informal grievance with his supervisor on November 16, 2006 expressing his belief that he had been denied full consideration for the position because of “violations” in the selection process. Appellant also advised his supervisor that he believed that the same “improper” selection process could be applied to discriminate against a member of a protected class under Title VII. According to Appellant, he expressed his opposition to such practices.
When informed that his supervisor could not resolve the grievance, Appellant filed a number of informal and formal grievances with the Assistant Superintendent, Superintendent, Director, and finally with the Acting Architect. All of these grievances were based on the same grounds: The Appellant’s “reasonable and good faith belief” that he had been denied a proper selection process when he was considered for the vacancy promotion.
On April 6, 2007, Appellant filed a request for counseling with the Office of Compliance (“OOC”). He received the final denial of his grievance from the AOC on May 18, 2007. By letter dated May 21, 2007, the OOC referred Patterson back to the AOC for participation in the AOC internal grievance process. Pointing to its procedures, the AOC declined to initiate another grievance process. Patterson returned to the OOC procedures, and on September 26, 2007, a notice of the end of the counseling period was issued.
