Opinion ID: 854301
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Proof by “Inference”

Text: Bechtel also argues that the ALJ erred on remand by requiring him to prove the elements of his case “by a preponderance of the evidence and not by mere inference.” Joint App’x 114 (emphasis supplied). Bechtel contends that he was entitled to prove his case “by inference,” and that we should resuscitate the ALJ’s finding in her original 2005 order that his protected activities contributed to his discharge. Bechtel’s logic is flawed in several respects. First, the ALJ’s reference in her second order to proof “by mere inference” simply was a response to the improper burden-shifting framework used in her first order, see Joint App’x 114 n.3, and was not, as Bechtel suggests, an assertion that she could make no factual inferences from the evidence. For instance, the ALJ considered the timing of the protected activity relative to the timing of the adverse action, see Joint App’x 117–18, which is an inference-based assessment. The fact that the ALJ declined to make that inference in favor of Bechtel, of course, does not demonstrate that she applied an erroneous standard. Second, Bechtel offers no basis for us now to resuscitate a specific finding of the ALJ that was vacated by the ARB and then replaced with new factual findings of the ALJ on remand. The ARB did not err, much less act arbitrarily or capriciously or in abuse of its discretion, in affirming the dismissal of Bechtel’s complaint, notwithstanding the ALJ’s comment regarding proof “by mere inference.”