Court Opinion

ID: 9499267
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:42:47.933934+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:23.166021
License: Public Domain

RADER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Because the Board correctly found that the agency would have reprimanded Dr. Greenspan even in the absence of protected disclosures, I must respectfully dissent.
During a staff meeting, Dr. Greenspan attacked his supervisor, Ms. Crosetti. Everyone at the meeting, including Dr. Greenspan himself, considered his personal attacks very inappropriate. Specifically, following the meeting, Dr. Greenspan sent Ms. Crosetti an apology, admitting that some of his comments were “inappropriate,” “disruptive,” and “personal in nature.”
Because those comments may have been protected disclosures, this court today holds that Dr. Greenspans’ inappropriate, personal, and disruptive comments cannot support a reprimand. Majority Opinion, -. In other words, because Dr. Greenspan’s comments may fall within the WPA, he may freely disrupt and disturb agency meetings. In this instance, Dr. Greenspan’s conduct supports the reprimand upheld by the Board. In fact, disrespectful conduct merits a separate charge under the Agency’s Table of Penalties. Thus, the agency, as the Board held, would have reprimanded Dr. Greenspan for his disruptive conduct regardless of the nature of his disclosures. In sum, the agency’s decision to reprimand Dr. Greenspan for his conduct outweighed any evidence that the proposing and deciding officials held retaliatory motives against him. Thus, the Board was, by no means, arbitrary in upholding that reprimand.
In addition to a letter of reprimand, the Board also upheld a lowered performance rating. The record, however, shows that Dr. Greenspan’s overall proficiency rating was not lowered. Instead the agency changed Dr. Greenspan’s rating for personal qualities from high satisfactory to satisfactory. Dr. Greenspan’s supervisor made this change because his conduct at the March 1999 meeting was “really out of line.” The supervisor also testified that Dr. Greenspan regularly failed to follow the proper chain of command in airing his complaints. Once again, the record underscores the propriety of these changes in Dr. Greenspan’s personal qualities rating. From my vantage point, this court must really stretch to find the Board’s decision arbitrary or unsupported by substantial evidence.