The guide provides invaluable insights into the workings and case processing of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). It offers a road map for dealing with OSC: what to do when OSC shows up; how to reply to OSC requests for documents and information; how to respond to an OSC stay request; what rights are implicated by an OSC administrative inquiry; and representation of an agency and its officials during an OSC investigation. Combining forces, a former Associate Special Counsel for Investigations, OSC and a former agency counsel, with extensive experience in whistleblower litigation, author this guide.
Whistleblower litigation is complex, with many nuances and potential pitfalls. This guide offers practical, step-by-step tips for handling both Individual Right of Action (IRA) appeals and actions directly appealable to the MSPB which involve whistleblowing reprisal defenses. It explains and contrasts protected and unprotected disclosures as well as reprisal for whistleblowing and other prohibited personnel practices. Covered topics include OSC exhaustion requirements, IRA jurisdiction, and the development of related threshold defenses. Also analyzed are evidentiary burdens: the contributing factor and clear and convincing evidence tests, as well as the per se knowledge-time causation test.
Emphasis is placed on discovery, the merits of reprisal claims, and the evaluation and proof of consequential damages.
650 pages.
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