United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

ANTHONY S. STUART, Petitioner

v.

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, Respondent ______________________

2024-1024 ______________________

Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in No. NY-0842-17-0107-I-1. ______________________

Decided: June 13, 2025 ______________________

SHAUN RYAN YANCEY, Melville Johnson, P.C., Atlanta, GA, argued for petitioner. Also represented by JENNIFER DUKE ISAACS.

CORINNE ANNE NIOSI, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Wash- ington, DC, argued for respondent. Also represented by BRIAN M. BOYNTON, PATRICIA M. MCCARTHY, FRANKLIN E. WHITE, JR.; ROXANN SAMANTHA JOHNSON, Office of General Counsel, United States Office of Personnel Management, Washington, DC. ______________________ Case: 24-1024 Document: 47 Page: 2 Filed: 06/13/2025

2 STUART v. OPM

Before HUGHES, BRYSON, and STARK, Circuit Judges. BRYSON, Circuit Judge. Navy veteran Anthony Stuart appeals from a decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board holding that Mr. Stuart is not entitled to credit for his periods of mili- tary service in computing his civilian retirement annuity. The Board held that Mr. Stuart’s military service could not be counted in computing his civilian pension because he was already receiving military retired pay based on a disa- bility incurred during his military service. We affirm. I Mr. Stuart served on active duty in the Navy during three periods: (1) March 25, 1974, to March 22, 1979; (2) March 18, 1981, to March 16, 1984; and (3) July 23, 1985, to April 23, 1991. J.A. 111. In 1991, the Navy placed Mr. Stuart on the Temporary Disability Retirement List based on various medical conditions. J.A. 132. The Navy subsequently informed Mr. Stuart that his disability was determined to be permanent and that he had been assigned a 60% disability rating. J.A. 57. Accordingly, as of August 1, 1994, Mr. Stuart was placed on the Permanent Disability Retirement List, at which point he became eligible to re- ceive military retired pay. Id. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service calculated the amount of Mr. Stuart’s retired pay using two methods, one based on the percent- age of his disability rating (60%), and the other based on his total years of service (13 years and 8 months). J.A. 91. Mr. Stuart received the amount calculated based on his dis- ability rating, because it yielded a greater gross pay amount. Id. After his military service, Mr. Stuart entered into fed- eral civilian service and became eligible to accrue retire- ment benefits under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (“FERS”). He retired from his civil service position on November 28, 2015. J.A. 108. On his FERS retirement Case: 24-1024 Document: 47 Page: 3 Filed: 06/13/2025

STUART v. OPM 3

application form, Mr. Stuart indicated that he was not waiving his military retired pay in order to receive credit toward his FERS retirement benefits for his military ser- vice. J.A. 111. On March 23, 2016, the Office of Personnel Manage- ment (“OPM”) issued an initial decision informing Mr. Stu- art that his military service was not creditable toward his FERS annuity calculation because he was receiving mili- tary retired pay. J.A. 93. OPM explained that by statute Mr. Stuart could not receive both military retired pay and FERS credit for his military service unless his military re- tired pay was awarded for: (1) service-connected disability either in