Background.
Nick Feliciano, an air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation Administration and a Coast Guard reserve petty officer, was called to active duty from July 2012 to February 2017. Despite serving under orders that referenced support for contingency operations, Feliciano did not receive differential pay, which led him to seek relief from the Merit Systems Protection Board.
After his claims were rejected, Feliciano appealed to the Federal Circuit, which upheld the denial of differential pay based on its precedent requiring a substantive connection between the reservist’s service and a national emergency.
To dig deeper, visit the original article on the Thomson Reuters blog.