Court Reads Whistleblower Protections Broadly

Whistleblower anti-retaliation law applies to situations in which an agency refuses to hire someone for a posted vacancy, even if the agency ultimately decides not to fill that position, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held (case No. 05-3311). The court overturned MSPB, which it said took too narrow a reading of whistleblower rights in denying the appeal of a job applicant who asserted that he was not hired because of his whistleblowing during prior federal employment. The court said the law contains a broad definition what “personnel actions” that agencies may not take or fail to take as retaliation and does not state that the failure to select an applicant is covered only if someone else is selected; instead, an agency must only “take some identifiable step that constitutes a decision not to hire the complainant,” including, as in this case, canceling the vacancy announcement.