The U.S. Office of Special Counsel on Wednesday touted recent resolutions to cases where agencies allegedly committed prohibited personnel practices against federal employees, including whistleblower retaliation.

“Whistleblowers are crucial to exposing problems and wrongdoing across the federal government. But for whistleblowers to come forward, they must believe they will be protected from retaliation, which is at the heart of OSC’s mission,” said Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger in a statement. “I am very pleased with the resolution of these complaints and want to thank all the OSC attorneys involved….”

• The Veterans Affairs Department settled with an employee who alleged that “his proposed demotion was retaliation for reporting a significant number of unanswered patient telephone calls to a VA medical facility’s mental health crisis line.” The employee’s proposed demotion was withdrawn, and he received 97 hours of restored sick leave and $10,000 in compensatory damages.
• OSC determined that VA committed a prohibited personnel practice against an employee who alleged that he was “removed during his probationary period for engaging in a protected grievance process.” The department and individual settled, with the employee receiving a clean record and $175,000 in back pay and damages.
• The Air Force settled with an employee who made protected disclosures regarding lab safety issues, participated in an inspector general investigation and filed an equal employment...

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