Office of Special Counsel

The American Bar Association (ABA) is holding a brown bag lunch panel with staff members from the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) on Thursday, November 3rd, from 12:00 pm-1:30 pm EST. The panel discussion will cover recent developments in Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and Federal Circuit case law that impact whistleblowers. The panel will

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) recently allowed a stay in the termination of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) whistleblower, Paul T. Hardy. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) requested the stay on his behalf due to reasonable belief that Mr. Hardy’s recent termination from the FDA constituted a violation of the Whistleblowers Protection Act (WPA).

According to the OSC, there is substantial evidence that Mr. Hardy’s termination was a direct retaliation for disclosures he made about serious safety issues with a screening device designed to detect breast cancer. The OSC explained that Mr. Hardy’s whistleblowing “raised issues related to exposing the general population to unwarranted radiation exposure and ineffective cancer screening devices.”Continue Reading MSPB Approves Stay for FDA Whistleblower

Last Thursday, April 14, 2011, the Senate confirmed Carolyn Lerner as Special Counsel. This post, which investigates and takes positions on federal employee whistleblower allegations, has been vacant for over two years. I reported here last month about her confirmation hearing.

Ms. Lerner has a difficult job ahead of her. Her staff is underfunded, and

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is the federal government’s attorney charged with protecting federal employee whistleblowers. It took President Obama a long time to finally pick a nominee for this position. Today, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) held a hearing on that nominee, Carolyn Lerner.  One thing that Sen. Daniel

Today, Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia postponed Scott Bloch’s sentencing once again until Thursday, March 10, 2011. Prosecutors urged the judge to reconsider her ruling last week that the charge of lying to Congress carries a one-month minimum jail sentence.
Continue Reading Former Special Counsel Sentencing Postponed Again

Maria Aran is the chief of staff for the Miami district of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a part of the Department of Homeland Security. When she discovered that a sub-office had mishandled hundreds of sensitive documents, she made a report for the agency’s security office. When she sent that report, she inadvertently