Veterans Affairs employee sues OPM to enforce Supreme Court pay ruling for reservists
A VA staffer has filed a lawsuit demanding the Office of Personnel Management issue regulations that apply a 2025 Supreme Court decision expanding differential pay for federal employees called to active duty.
A Veterans Affairs Department employee, Marcus Colicelli, has initiated legal action against the Office of Personnel Management to compel the agency to adopt binding regulations that reflect a 2025 Supreme Court ruling. The Court’s decision in Feliciano v. Department of Transportation eliminated the requirement that a reservist’s deployment be “substantially connected” to a national emergency, allowing a simple temporal link to suffice for differential pay.
OPM’s guidance, last revised in 2015, still imposes the outdated test, prompting the lawsuit that cites a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. The Merit Systems Protection Board has previously held that federal workers ordered to active duty are entitled to the extra pay when their service coincides with a declared emergency. Colicelli’s attorneys argue that without a binding rule, each reservist must individually pursue entitlement, causing systemic injury. Trial Lawyers for Justice announced plans to recruit additional claimants for a forthcoming class action before the Board.
Why it matters
Federal reservists may be denied pay they are legally entitled to until OPM updates its rules.
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