Opinion ID: 4582154
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Causation of Denied Promotions

Text: The most significant issue for remand was causation: could Delgado show that his protected disclosure was a factor in any adverse employment decisions, and in particular in any decisions not to promote him to positions for which he was qualified? The Administrative Judge did her job properly on this issue, at least with respect to the 2014 Case, hearing testimony and making the necessary findings. Those findings favored Delgado. After his original disclosure to the ASACs, Delgado sought promotions from his GS-13 position. He applied for several GS-14 jobs beginning in March 2014, just a month after his first protected disclosure. Such a promotion would have come with a pay increase and placed Delgado in a supervisory capacity over groups of ATF special agents. (The details vary, of course, based on the specific positions.) From 2014 to the time of his hearing in 2018, Delgado continued to apply for dozens of GS-14 positions. He was not selected for any of them despite, he argues, having all of the required qualifications. We focus on two promotions that Delgado did not receive in early 2014. Before those specifics, though, a word about the rather formal interview and promotion process at ATF. Interviews are conducted by a Merit Promotion Board comprised of four people, one of whom must be the “receiving manager” for the position, meaning the supervisor who will manage the selected applicant. Each candidate is asked a predetermined set of questions, and each interviewer scores each candidate’s answers. After all interviews are complete, the panel meets formally and deliberates on the record. The receiving manager speaks last so as not to bias the others’ views. Despite 14 No. 19-2239 these formal procedures, the panel may discuss each candidate immediately following the interview. Those discussions are oﬀ the record, and panel members may change their scores during this time. In March 2014 Delgado interviewed but was not selected for two GS-14 Group Supervisor positions (in the intelligence group and the joint terrorism task force, respectively) in ATF’s Chicago Field Division. ASAC Durastanti, to whom Delgado made his first protected disclosure on February 4, 2014, served as the receiving manager on the Merit Promotion Board evaluating Delgado for both positions. Delgado argues that ASAC Durastanti decided not to promote him to these positions because of his protected disclosure about Labno. The Administrative Judge found that Delgado’s non-selec- tions for both of the GS-14 promotions in early 2014 were caused by his disclosure: Applying the knowledge/timing test, ASAC Durastanti was a member of the selection panel for both vacancies, and was aware of the alleged protected disclosure because it was made to him. The non-selections took place within six weeks after the appellant made the alleged pro- tected disclosure, satisfying the requirement that personnel actions occur “within a period of time such that a reasonable person could con- clude that the disclosure was a contributing fac- tor in the personnel action.” Short App. 7, citing Carey v. Department of Veterans Aﬀairs, 93 M.S.P.R. 676, ¶ 11 (2003), and Aquino v. Department of Homeland Security, 121 M.S.P.R. 35, ¶ 19 (2014). No. 19-2239 15 If the Administrative Judge had ruled correctly that Del- gado’s disclosure was protected, her ruling on that point coupled with her finding that his disclosure was a contributing factor in his non-selections would have been enough, as a matter of law, to find that Delgado had carried his burden with respect to the March 2014 denials of promotions. All that should have been left for the AJ to do was to allow the agency to present its rebuttal case and then render a full decision on the merits. While Delgado’s 2014 formal complaint was pending, he continued to apply for promotions, leading to the 2018 Case. His more recent claims before the Administrative Judge and here on judicial review focus primarily on his 2016 applications to serve as the resident agent-in-charge of the Rockford, Illinois oﬃce, and for another group supervisor position in the Chicago Field Division. By 2016, the leadership of the Chicago Field Division oﬃce had been replaced: the SAC and two ASACs were all new to the oﬃce. Yet all three new managers were aware of the January 2012 incident and Delgado’s disclosures about Labno. In September 2016, the new SAC had even talked with Delgado’s former supervisor, Nicholas Starcevic (who by 2016 had transferred to ATF headquarters in Washington), about the possibility of promoting Delgado. The new SAC said he could not promote Delgado because “[i]t would kill the morale of the Division.” Delgado interviewed for the Rockford position on August 26, 2016 and for the Chicago position on October 24, 2016. ASAC Lauder was the receiving manager on the first panel, and ASAC Fragoso was the receiving manager on the other. Delgado was not chosen for either—even though he was the only candidate on the Best Qualified List for the Chicago position. 16 No. 19-2239 The agency did not dispute evidence that showed that the oﬃcials on the interview panel for the GS-14 positions in 2016 knew about Delgado’s history of disclosures pertaining to Labno’s testimony at the dealer’s trial. Those oﬃcials, the SAC and both ASACs, talked with Delgado about those disclosures only a few months before making decisions not to promote him. Contrary to the AJ’s ruling, that’s all that Delgado needed to show to satisfy the knowledge/timing test and to carry his burden of proof as to whether his protected disclosures were a contributing factor in the adverse personnel actions taken against him. The AJ’s decision on this point was also arbitrary and capricious.