Opinion ID: 2830177
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: MSPB Proceeding

Text: The ALJ found that 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8)’s protections “safeguard whistleblowers against retaliation for the disclosure of governmental wrongdoing,” and dismissed Aviles’s claim because he only alleged “tax fraud by a private entity.” Importantly, the ALJ relied in part on the Federal Circuit’s decision in Willis v. Department of Agriculture, 141 F.3d 1139 (Fed. Cir. 1998) in making this ruling. The ALJ noted that “[a]llegations that particular government officials allowed or facilitated wrongful conduct by a private organization” may be protected. But the ALJ found that Aviles’s “vague 1 The Office of Special Counsel receives and investigates allegations of prohibited personnel practices and disclosures of “violations of any law, rule, or regulation, or gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.” 5 U.S.C. § 1212(a)(2)–(3). Indeed, before filing an individual-right-of-action complaint, a federal employee must first present her allegations to the OSC. See 5 U.S.C. § 1214(a)(3). 4 Case: 14-60645 Document: 00513166776 Page: 5 Date Filed: 08/24/2015 No. 14-60645 and speculative assertion of possible unspecified ‘involvement’ by unidentified agency officials in alleged private misconduct by a taxpayer does not constitute a nonfrivolous allegation of whistleblowing activity.” Accordingly, the ALJ dismissed Aviles’s claim for lack of jurisdiction, and the MSPB affirmed 2–1 over a dissent in a short, nonprecedential final order.