Opinion ID: 406163
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A. A-20. The OSC also stated:

Text: This letter ... should not be construed as an adjudication by this Office of any matters investigated. No adjudication has been made of any matter you may otherwise pursue under any administrative appeal or complaint procedure which may be provided under law, rule or regulation. Id. at 20. 4 Although the question of an implied right of action for a whistleblower under the CSRA is one of first impression for this court, the District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled on similar questions on several occasions. See, e.g., Apodaca v. United States Government Printing Office, No. 80-2978 (D.D.C. Sept. 16, 1981) (Obderdorfer, J.); Brawner v. United States Department of the Navy, No. 80-3195 (D.D.C. April 27, 1981) (Pratt, J.); Cutts v. Ferris, No. 80-1992 (D.D.C. July 29, 1981) (Gasch, J.); Dearsman v. Kurtz, No. 80-2023 (D.D.C. June 26, 1981) (Smith, J.); Scarangella v. Schweiker, No. 81-0744 (D.D.C. Aug. 7, 1981) (Parker, J.) In support of her argument, appellant cites Gilley v. United States, 649 F.2d 449 (6th Cir. 1981). The question presented in that case was whether a district court could enjoin a transfer of a tenured employee or whether 5 U.S.C. § 1208, authorizing the OSC to seek a stay of any personnel action for fifteen days upon a determination of reasonable grounds to believe the action was taken as a result of a prohibited personnel practice, was the exclusive remedy. The court held: Though the Reform Act of 1978 represented a comprehensive overhaul of the federal civil system, we find no indication within the statutory language, or the legislative history, of an intent to deprive district courts of their traditional equitable powers. The plaintiff did not seek review of the refusal of the Special Council to seek a temporary stay on his behalf. The authority of the Special Counsel in this regard is purely discretionary and there is no statutory provision for review of the exercise of this discretion. What the plaintiff sought and received from the district court was traditional equitable relief in the form of an injunction to prevent immediate irreparable injury which he claimed he would suffer if the transfer order were carried out prior to completion of administrative review of the action of the Bureau. This was an entirely different degree of judicial protection than that provided by the Act. The two avenues of relief are not mutually exclusive. In the absence of a clear showing of congressional intent to do so, courts will not infer that the enactment of a particular statute containing provisions for judicial review has the effect of withdrawing from the courts their traditional equitable powers. Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136, 141, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 1511, 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967). This rule is related to the more general doctrine disfavoring repeals by implication.... TVA v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153, 190, 98 S.Ct. 2279, 2299, 57 L.Ed.2d 117 (1978); Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 549, 94 S.Ct. 2474, 2482, 41 L.Ed.2d 290 (1974). We find no support for the argument that Congress intended to deprive district courts of their traditional power to prevent irreparable harm by providing for judicial review in another forum of final personnel actions and for limited temporary stays of administrative orders at the behest of an officer of the executive branch. Such a limitation on a long recognized power of the district courts could be found only in explicit language not present in the Reform Act. Id. at 453. This case can, of course, be distinguished from Gilley because appellant here seeks ultimate resolution of the whistleblowing allegation rather than interim and extraordinary relief. However, we note that the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), authorizes injunctive relief only in cases within the jurisdiction of the court. Thus to the extent the Sixth Circuit's reasoning relies upon the assumption that a private right of action under the CSRA exists, we decline to follow it. But see note 7 infra. 5 We note that to the extent the district court's opinion can be read to require a whistleblower to complain to superiors rather than colleagues, we disagree. The MSPB's own definition of whistleblower does not adopt such a limited view Whistleblower means a present or former Federal employee or applicant for Federal employment who discloses information he reasonably believes evidences a violation of any law, rule or regulation, or mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial or specific danger to public health or safety, if the disclosure is not specifically prohibited by statute and if such information is not specifically required by Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or the conduct of foreign affairs. A protected disclosure may be oral or written and to any person within or outside the agency. Disclosure of information to the Special Counsel, agency Inspector General, or other employee designated by the agency head to receive such information is protected even if the disclosure would otherwise be prohibited by statute or is otherwise required by Executive order to be kept secret. Where the information disclosed affects only the personnel situation of the complaint, it will normally be treated as an allegation of a prohibited personnel practice or violation of other civil service law, rule or regulation, and the complainant will not be considered to be a whistleblower. 5 C.F.R. § 1250.3(c) 6 Appellant also argues that the district court had jurisdiction over the statutory claim because it was pendent to her constitutional claim. Appellant's Brief at 30. But, as Judge Oberdorfer noted in Apodaca, slip op. at 4: the exercise of ancillary jurisdiction presupposes a right enforceable in itself-that is, a separate cause of action cognizable in some court. See also Aldinger v. Howard, 427 U.S. 1, 18, 96 S.Ct. 2413, 2422, 49 L.Ed.2d 276 (1976) 7 But see Wren at 875 n.9 (judicial review may be available to insure OSC compliance with 5 U.S.C. § 1206 duties) The government itself acknowledges that (s)hould a case arise where an employee was subjected by his or her agency to such a gross or flagrant violation of constitutional rights that CSRA does not provide adequate protection, then perhaps a district court could properly take jurisdiction to afford a remedy, but that is certainly not the case here. Appellee's Brief at 37 (footnote omitted). However, that standard raises troublesome questions. In order to find jurisdiction, the court must first make a judgment on how gross or flagrant the violation is, as well as how adequate the CSRA remedy. We can find no such amorphous jurisdictional standard in the Act.