Opinion ID: 210045
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Distinction between Substantive and Jurisdictional Determinations

Text: In dismissing Johnston's claims, the board erroneously conflated the requirements for establishing jurisdiction with those required to prevail on the merits of a WPA claim. See Spencer v. Dep't of the Navy, 327 F.3d 1354, 1356 (Fed.Cir.2003) (This court for more than ten years . . . has tried to get the Board to clearly separate the issue of jurisdiction from that of the merits of a petitioner's case.); Spruill v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 978 F.2d 679, 686-89 (Fed.Cir.1992) (contrasting jurisdiction with failure to state a claim and relating the nonfrivolous allegation standard to the well-pleaded complaint rule). The board premised its jurisdictional determinations on its conclusion that the general tenor of [Johnston's] communications appears to be disagreement with the agency's decision to strip her of duties and to put her at the same level as others she deems less qualified in safety matters. Johnston, slip op. at 5. There are two reasons why this determination was wrong. First, while Johnston's February 21, 2006, email to her supervisor focuses primarily on the fact that her own job description was being changed, her disclosures to the OIG contained detailed information regarding her concerns that proposed Policy 7.04a would delegate safety management responsibilities to unqualified personnel, thereby putting agency personnel and others at risk for serious injury. See OIG Memorandum at 1-2. Second, and more importantly, Johnston's motivation for making her disclosures and her credibility are related to the merits of her claim, not to whether she made allegations sufficient to support board jurisdiction. See LaChance, 174 F.3d at 1381 (bias or self-interest may be considered when adjudicating the merits of a WPA claim). It may be true that Johnston's communications primarily involve dissatisfaction with her job assignments, and that she may be unable to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that she suffered reprisal for any protected disclosure. It is also possible that the agency can defeat her claims by showing, by clear and convincing evidence, that it would have taken adverse personnel actions against her even absent any protected disclosures. See Marano, 2 F.3d at 1141 (once an employee has established the existence of a personnel practice prohibited by the WPA, the burden then shifts to the agency to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the same personnel action against the whistleblower even in the absence of his protected disclosure). Whether she will ultimately be able to prevail on the merits, however, is a wholly separate issue from whether the board had jurisdiction over her appeal. See Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 682, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946) (claims regarding jurisdiction cannot be defeated by the possibility that the plaintiffs may not ultimately recover); see also Patterson v. Dep't of the Interior, 424 F.3d 1151, 1160 (Fed.Cir.2005). On appeal, the government acknowledges that an employee is entitled to a hearing if she presents a non-frivolous allegation that the Board has jurisdiction over her [claims]. Respondent Brief at 11. It contends, however, that Johnston's allegations are frivolous because it was unreasonable for her to believe that it was dangerous to employ CSRs, rather than SOHMs, to review agency training exercises. In support, it points out that CSRs would be given training and would be supervised by a CSR team leader. This argument misses the mark. Johnston asserted that SOHMs have far more safety expertise than CSRs, and she was not required to prove conclusively that CSRs were incapable of properly reviewing training activities in order to establish board jurisdiction. On the contrary, under the WPA, whether [an] allegation can be proven is a question on the merits that does not properly form a part of the jurisdictional inquiry. Reid, 508 F.3d at 678; Greenspan v. Dep't of Veterans Affairs, 464 F.3d 1297, 1305 (Fed.Cir.2006) (government doctor reasonably believed his disclosures evidenced misconduct, even when others at his agency thought his allegations were unfounded). Indeed, since Johnston's appeal was dismissed before she was given access to the agency's file on her case or provided with an opportunity to conduct discovery, it would have been well-nigh impossible for her to prove that CSRs lacked the requisite training and experience to safely review training activities. There are few areas more fraught with potential peril to public safety than the transport of nuclear weapons. Johnston has been employed for several years as a safety and health expert at the agency charged with transporting the nation's nuclear stockpile, so it takes more than the government's mere contention that her allegations regarding safety issues are frivolous to dismiss at the jurisdictional stage of the proceedings.