Aquino v. Department of Homeland Security: Opinion and Order
Case: Aquino v. Department of Homeland Security
Court or Venue: U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board
Date: 26-Mar-2014
Title: Opinion and Order
PDF of document:
Opinion and Order
Source
From our post about this case on the Whistleblower Law Blog:
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) adopted the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2011 formulation of “cat’s paw” liability to find that the Transport Security Administration (TSA) acted illegally when it fired an employee who blew the whistle on lax airport security measures.
The MSPB’s decision in Aquino v. Department of Homeland Security was its first formal application of the cat’s-paw doctrine to the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA), which forbids retaliation against whistleblowers working for the federal government. Previous board decisions had reached a similar result using a different theory; the switch should help MSPB actions to survive appeal in federal court.
