Opinion ID: 71947
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Harrison's transfer

Text: 33 The circumstances of Harrison's transfer out of the drywell are less muddled. On February 3--after his demotion--Harrison asked the remaining lead foreman, Eugene Hannah, to gather the members of Harrison's former ironworker crews. Harrison announced to the assembled workers that he had been demoted and that nothing had changed on the firewatch. The ironworkers then decided among themselves to refuse to work until S&W rectified the fire safety issue. Ehele came and mollified them enough to return to work, but later that same day S&W and the union agreed to return to the old firewatch procedure. Firewatch again became the laborers' responsibility. 34 The next day, Ehele sent job steward Morrow to fetch Harrison and send him to work outside the drywell. As we mentioned before, non-drywell work was ancillary, enjoyed less status and seems to have been less interesting. Morrow reported to Harrison that Ehele had compared Harrison to Moses at the Red Sea. 35 Here Harrison can build his case on direct evidence of S&W's animus. We do not understand Ehele to have underscored Harrison's moral courage. Rather, we think Ehele saw Harrison as a troublemaker, in Ehele's own words. The Secretary did not err in viewing retaliation as a probable contributing factor to Harrison's transfer out of sight and out of the drywell. 36 Against Harrison's evidence S&W offers little in rejoinder. Ehele mentions that Harrison had earlier requested a transfer to an outside crew. This is a plausible contention, as Harrison, now working as a journeyman, might prefer not to work alongside people he had just recently supervised. But S&W falls short of convincing us, as he failed to convince the ALJ or the Secretary, that S&W would have transferred Harrison had he never provoked trouble for S&W at the ironworkers' meeting. Substantial evidence upholds the Secretary's finding of retaliation. 37 Our conclusion leaves an assumption hanging. Section 5851 does not protect every act that an employee commits under the auspices of safety. Whistleblowing must occur through prescribed channels. Did Harrison's advising his co-workers of his fire worries constitute a protected activity under § 5851(a)? If not, the whistleblower provision would not avail Harrison, and S & W's retaliation would be permissible. We are unaware of any case law that guides our response to this particular question. We decide it afresh today. 38 Section 5851(a) lists six ways that an employee may act under its aegis. Listing only the three relevant provisions, an employee commits a protected activity if he: 39 (A) notified his employer of an alleged violation of this chapter or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.... 40 (D) commenced, caused to be commenced, or is about to commence or cause to be commenced a proceeding under this chapter or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or a proceeding for the administration or enforcement of any requirement imposed under this chapter or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended [or] ...; 41 (F) assisted or participated or is about to assist or participate in any manner in such a proceeding or in any other manner in such a proceeding or in any other action to carry out the purposes of this chapter or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. 42 We note as a starting point that Congress drafted subparagraph (F) in broad terms. The statute shields any employee who is about to assist or participate in any manner ... or in any other action to carry out the purposes of this chapter or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. 42 U.S.C. § 5851(a)(1)(F) (emphasis added). Purpose is an open-ended word. We presume that Congress used this word advisedly. In fact, when Congress revised § 5851 wholesale in 1992, it left this wording intact. See 42 U.S.C. § 5851(a)(3) (1991). 43 The Secretary of Labor argues that § 5851(a) is elastic enough to cover Harrison's speech to his co-workers. The Secretary administers § 5851, and we accord his or her interpretations due deference. English v. General Electric Co., 496 U.S. 72, 83 n. 6, 110 S.Ct. 2270, 2277 n. 6, 110 L.Ed.2d 65 (1990); Bechtel, 50 F.3d at 932. In Bechtel, this court acceded to the Secretary's contention that the pre-1992 version of § 5851 covered internal complaints made to supervisors and others, a position Congress ratified with the current statute's subparagraph (A). Id. at 932, 932 n. 1. As in Bechtel, we ask whether the Secretary's reading is a permissible reading of the statute. Id. at 932. 44 We do not need to adopt as broad a reading of the statute as the Secretary would wish, however. The facts of Harrison's transfer permit a less ambitious decision. Harrison's discussion with his fellow ironworkers was, in the context in which it occurred, an action to carry out the purposes of the Atomic Energy Act and Chapter 73 of Title 42 (Development of Energy Sources)--and to guarantee nuclear safety in particular. Harrison may very well have been wrong about the concrete dangers posed by the new firewatch scheme at Browns Ferry. We do not know. The important question, however, is not whether he was right, but whether he was acting in furtherance of safety compliance when he spoke to the co-workers. We conclude he was. The meeting with the ironworkers was included in a series of communications to employer representatives and to TVA officials. All of these complaints were, under the circumstances, mutually reinforcing. The meeting with the ironworkers reiterated publicly and in an emphatic way what Harrison had said in the earlier communications. As a practical matter, Harrison's statements at the meeting served as another notice to the employer. To exclude the meeting as a recognized effort at whistleblowing would seem artificial; to denude the meeting of its context would seem to strip it of its real content. In a context directly and immediately involving other communications that § 5851(a) explicitly recognizes as protected activity, the Secretary of Labor has permissibly construed § 5851(a) to include Harrison's meeting with his co-workers. 45 S&W retorts that this position ignores that Congress felt it necessary in 1992 to insert a particular sub-paragraph to cover internal complaints to employers. 42 U.S.C. § 5851(a)(1)(A). If Congress inserted a provision for speech to employers, why not for speech to fellow employees? Because, S&W says, Congress did not want to extend protection this far. S&W's interpretation is not implausible on its face. At the time of the 1992 amendments, several circuits had ruled that § 5851(a) encompassed complaints to employers. Bechtel, 50 F.3d at 931-32 (recounting history of case law). Nonetheless, the Fifth Circuit had ruled the other way. Brown & Root, Inc. v. Donovan, 747 F.2d 1029 (5th Cir.1984). The legislative history of the 1992 Energy Policy Act, too, makes clear that Congress intended the amendments to codify what it thought the law to be already. Congress sought to explicitly provide whistleblower protection for nuclear industry employees [who] (1) notify their employer of an alleged violation rather than a federal regulator. H.R. No. 102-474(VIII), at 78, reprinted in 1992 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1953, 2282, 2296 (emphasis added). In other words, Congress thought the statutory language broad enough already, but recognized that it required explication. 46 We recognize that the policy implications of the Secretary's construction may not be flawless. There may be some difficulty in distinguishing between offering a shield behind which some employees may incite trouble about a host of non-safety issues, including labor disputes, and one behind which well-intentioned employees may raise an alarm against safety hazards. But this is a balance for the Secretary of Labor to attempt to strike in the first instance. The only question is whether the Secretary's balance here, as we have cast it, is a permissible reading of the whistleblower provision. We think it is.