The James R. Browning U.S. Court of Appeals Building, home of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,. REUTERS/Noah Berger
(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday revived most of a former medical-office supervisor’s lawsuit against four Nevada OSHA officials for outing her as whistleblower and allegedly conspiring with the employer to “scuttle” her retaliation complaint after she was fired.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Helen Armstrong – represented by John Tye of the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid and attorneys at Messing & Spector – raised at least two plausible grounds for suit, including a due process claim, and should be allowed to amend her complaint to flesh out others.
The decision overturns a ruling by a federal judge in Las Vegas, who dismissed the lawsuit in 2020 after finding that Armstrong, as an at-will employee of a private company, had no constitutionally protected interest in keeping her job anyway.
That general rule has been modified by state laws that protect whistleblowers from retaliation for reporting health and safety violations, Circuit Judge Marsha Berzon wrote. She was joined by Circuit Judge A. Wallace Tashima and 6th Circuit Judge Danny Boggs, who sat on the panel by designation.
“Today’s opinion is a strong affirmation that even for ‘at-will’ employees, the U.S. Constitution provides whistleblowers with important legal protections,” Tye said in an emailed statement.
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