Tomasa Gabriella Bolanos-Reynoso v. Department of Agriculture

This case presents a question of great importance to the prevention of waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, and to whether federal civil servants can have confidence that if they blow the whistle on wrongdoing in the workplace, the Merit Systems Protection Board and courts of appeals will fairly consider all their timely-made claims and afford them the process protections that Congress intended. Congress enacted the Whistleblower Protection Act to promote government integrity and efficiency by empowering federal employees to report any instances of waste, fraud, and abuse free of fear of reprisal. The Act specifies two categories of protected disclosures for which a federal employee cannot be retaliated against: (i) “any violation of any law, rule, or regulation” and (ii) “gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.” U.S. Code § 2302(b)(8)(A)(i)-(ii). Petitioner, a former federal civilian employee, made protected disclosures regarding financial improprieties that she reasonably believed evidenced both of these categories, but the MSPB and Federal Circuit analyzed petitioner’s claim only under § 2302(b)(8)(i)—failing to consider her (b)(8)(ii) claim— and ruled that she did not have a reasonable belief, on that basis alone, to make her disclosures. The question presented is: Whether a federal civilian employee who makes a timely and valid disclosure premised on both categories enumerated in 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8) is entitled to a Merit Systems Protection Board decision on both categories.