Takeaway: For a retaliation complaint under the Defense Contractor Whistleblower Protection Act to proceed to trial, the plaintiff must reasonably claim that the allegedly protected disclosure bears some relationship to the performance of the federal contract.
A linguist who worked for a U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) contractor could not go forward with her retaliation claim under the Defense Contractor Whistleblower Protection Act (DCWPA), a federal appeals court ruled. The employee, who alleged she was fired after complaining about being shoved by an intoxicated co-worker while at a bar at the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, failed to allege a disclosure protected by the act, the court said.
The employee was not injured in the incident at the bar. After she reported the incident, her employer attempted to transfer her to a different position. The employee initially refused the transfer and was subsequently fired. She filed suit under the DCWPA, alleging she was discharged in retaliation for making a protected disclosure under the act. A trial court held that she had not alleged a protected disclosure and dismissed her complaint before trial. The employee appealed.
Under the DCWPA, an employee of a DOD contractor may not be discharged or otherwise discriminated against as a reprisal for disclosing information that the employee reasonably believes is evidence of a violation of law, rule or regulation related to a department contract, the appeals court first explained....
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