U.S. Embassy in Budapest: Party Headquarters in Eastern Europe?
Oh, the alleged carousing at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest, Hungary! The free-flowing booze. The “extensive” toasting. And apparently drunk government officials—while on duty. A foreign service investigator, Matthew Drake, who attended two parties at the embassy in 2004, illuminated the festivities in a complaint to supervisors. A month later, Drake was transferred out of Budapest. His services were no longer needed, a supervisor said.
Drake’s complaint—an e-mail, including pictures, sent to supervisors—was the centerpiece of a ruling today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The appeals court determined the Agency for International Development retaliated against Drake for his whistleblower complaint. A three-judge panel—Chief Judge Paul Michel was joined by Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore and U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady of the Eastern District of Virginia—reversed a ruling against Drake and remanded the case to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board for further review.
An administrative judge last year tossed Drake’s complaint, saying that the booze-swilling infraction—if there were one—was of such a “trivial” nature that Drake could not have reasonably believed he was reporting a genuine violation. The judge agreed with Drake that the activities were “all behaviors that an intoxicated individual might engage in,” but ultimately decided that an “enthusiastic partygoer” who was not intoxicated could act the same way.
Drake did not need to prove that the government officials were drunk—just that a disinterested observer could reasonably conclude so, the Federal Circuit said today. “The alleged intoxication of agency personnel reported by Mr. Drake was instead the result of deliberate and intentional consumption of alcohol during working hours and would result in a violation of a law, rule or regulation,” the appellate judges said.
Nicholas Woodfield of the Employment Law Group in the District argued the appeal for Drake. The Justice Department’s Todd Hughes represented the government.
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