How are whistleblower claims adjudicated?
With respect to federal employees, these claims are typically filed with the Office of Special Counsel, an office charged with investigating the federal employee’s claim. More often than not, the Office of Special Counsel will issue notice to the employee that (s)he may file the whistleblower complaint with the Merit Systems Protection Board, (“M.S.P.B.”) and an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”), a federal employee, will hear the case. The ALJ will then issue an acknowledgement order, which an administrative court schedule is listing all deadlines for discovery to be initiated and completed. Discovery is a legal process in which each side to the litigation has an opportunity to demand that certain documents in the other side’s possession be produced. This may be especially helpful to the federal employee, who can compel the agency to produce, for example, all records of communications between various agency officials regarding knowledge of the whistleblower’s complaint. These communicat
