Wadhwa v. Department of Veterans Affairs , 353 F. App'x 435 ( 2009 )


Menu:
  •                      NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
    United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
    2009-3167
    DOM WADHWA,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS,
    Respondent.
    Dom Wadhwa, of Moorestown, New Jersey, pro se.
    Matthew H. Solomson, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil
    Division, United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, for respondent. With
    him on the brief were Tony West, Assistant Attorney General, Jeanne E. Davidson,
    Director, and Reginald T. Blades, Jr., Assistant Director.
    Appealed from: Merit Systems Protection Board
    NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
    United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
    2009-3167
    DOM WADHWA,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS,
    Respondent.
    Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in PH1221080019-W-1.
    __________________________
    DECIDED: November 19, 2009
    __________________________
    Before GAJARSA, DYK, and MOORE, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM.
    Dr. Dom Wadhwa petitions for review of the final decision of the Merit Systems
    Protection Board (“Board”) that denied his request for corrective action sought in his
    Individual Right of Action (“IRA”) appeal under the Whistleblower Protection Act
    (“WPA”), 
    5 U.S.C. § 2302
    (b)(8) (2000). See Wadhwa v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 
    110 M.S.P.R. 615
     (M.S.P.B. Mar. 13, 2009) (“Final Decision”).     For the reasons stated
    below, we affirm.
    BACKGROUND
    Dr. Dom Wadhwa is a Staff Physician at the Philadelphia Veterans
    Administration Medical Center (“PVAMC”), a Department of Veterans Affairs (“DVA” or
    “agency”) hospital located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.            On June 9, 2006,
    Dr. Wadhwa, while working at the Primary Care Clinic, encountered a patient who
    allegedly walked into his examination room without an appointment.            The patient
    became confrontational, and blocked his exit. Dr. Wadhwa reported this incident to the
    DVA Office of Resolution Management (“ORM”), including with his report the patient’s
    file containing personal information.     In response, his supervisors asked a local
    Administrative Investigation Board to investigate the possibility of a violation of the
    Privacy Act, based on Dr. Wadhwa’s disclosure of the patient’s private information.
    On July 23, 2006, Dr. Wadhwa submitted a letter to the DVA Inspector General
    (“IG”) office, describing both the incident on June 9, 2006, and safety problems at the
    hospital in general. Shortly thereafter, his first-line supervisor, Dr. Murphy, issued a
    proposed 14-day suspension letter to Dr. Wadhwa based on the alleged violation of the
    Privacy Act. This proposal was later rescinded and was replaced with a proposed
    removal by Dr. Wadhwa’s second-line supervisor, Dr. Grippey.
    In late 2006, Dr. Wadhwa was reassigned from the PVAMC to the Northern
    Indiana Health Care System in Indiana.          That order was rescinded and he was
    reassigned to the PVAMC due to the unresolved, proposed disciplinary action. On his
    return, he was temporarily reassigned to the Compensation and Pension (“C&P”)
    Section of the PVAMC, where patients are examined for purposes of disability claims,
    rather than to his former clinical position in the Primary Care Clinic, where patients seek
    2009-3167                                   2
    general medical care.      After Dr. Wadhwa received a letter confirming that his
    reassignment to the C&P Section was permanent, Dr. Wadhwa filed a complaint with
    the Office of Special Counsel alleging that his 2007 reassignment from the Primary
    Care Clinic to the C&P Section was in retaliation for his whistleblowing disclosure
    protected under the WPA.
    Dr. Wadhwa appealed to the Board, and the administrative judge (“AJ”) denied
    Dr. Wadhwa’s request for corrective action.     Wadhwa v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs,
    No. PH-1221-08-0019-W-1 (M.S.P.B. Jun. 26, 2008) (“Initial Decision”). In denying the
    request, the AJ found that: (1) Dr. Wadhwa failed to show that he made protected
    disclosures on July 23, 2006, when he submitted a memorandum alleging safety
    violations at PVAMC to the IG; (2) even if Dr. Wadhwa’s disclosures were protected, he
    failed to show that they were a contributing factor in his reassignment from the Primary
    Care Clinic to the C&P Section; and (3) the agency showed by clear and convincing
    evidence that it would have reassigned Dr. Wadhwa absent any disclosure. 
    Id.
    On petition for review, the Board modified the AJ’s initial decision but
    nevertheless denied Dr. Wadhwa’s request for corrective action, holding that: (1) the AJ
    erred in finding that Dr. Wadhwa’s disclosures were not protected; and (2) the AJ erred
    in finding that Dr. Wadhwa’s disclosures were not a contributing factor in his
    reassignment; but (3) the AJ correctly found that the agency presented clear and
    convincing evidence that it would have reassigned Dr. Wadhwa even absent any
    protected disclosure. See Final Decision. Dr. Wadhwa timely filed this appeal. We
    have jurisdiction over Dr. Wadhwa’s appeal pursuant to 
    28 U.S.C. § 1295
    (a)(9).
    2009-3167                                  3
    DISCUSSION
    Our scope of review in an appeal from a decision of the Board is limited.
    Specifically, a decision of the Board must be affirmed unless it is “(1) arbitrary,
    capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (2) obtained
    without procedures required by law, rule, or regulation having been followed; or
    (3) unsupported by substantial evidence.” 
    5 U.S.C. § 7703
    (c); see Dickey v. Off. of
    Pers. Mgmt., 
    419 F.3d 1336
    , 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2005).
    In order for the Board to order corrective action in an IRA appeal, the petitioner
    must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the protected disclosure was a
    contributing factor to the personnel action. See 
    5 U.S.C. § 2302
    (b)(8)(A); Johnston v.
    Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 
    518 F.3d 905
    , 909 (Fed. Cir. 2008). The burden then shifts to the
    agency to show by clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the same
    personnel action in the absence of the disclosure. See 
    5 U.S.C. § 1221
    (e); Marano v.
    Dep’t of Justice, 
    2 F.3d 1137
    , 1141 (Fed. Cir. 1993).         Here, because the Board
    determined that Dr. Wadhwa had satisfied his initial burden to show that the disclosure
    was a contributing factor in the decision to reassign him, we need only review the
    Board’s determination that DVA satisfied its burden by clear and convincing evidence
    that it would have taken the same personnel absent the disclosure.
    When determining whether the agency has shown by clear and convincing
    evidence that it would have taken the same personnel action absent the disclosure, the
    following three factors are considered: (1) the strength of the agency’s evidence in
    support of its personnel action; (2) the existence and strength of any motive to retaliate
    on the part of the agency officials who were involved in the decision; and (3) any
    2009-3167                                   4
    evidence that the agency takes similar actions against employees who are not
    whistleblowers, but who are otherwise similarly situated. Carr v. Social Sec. Admin.,
    
    185 F.3d 1318
    , 1323 (Fed. Cir. 1999).
    In denying Dr. Wadhwa’s request for corrective action, the Board correctly
    considered the requisite Carr factors and properly evaluated the submitted evidence.
    First, the evidence in support of the agency’s action to reassign Dr. Wadhwa was
    substantial. The agency’s witnesses testified that Dr. Wadhwa was reassigned because
    (1) there was a large backlog of cases in the C&P Section that had developed due to
    the Iraq War; (2) Dr. Wadhwa requested that he not be returned to work for Dr. Murphy;
    (3) Dr. Wadhwa had performance problems and received a large number of patient
    complaints while working at the Primary Care Clinic, even before the July 23, 2006
    report of alleged safety violations; and (4) Dr. Wadhwa had communication and
    collaboration problems with other staff members at the Primary Care Clinic.           The
    witnesses testified that Dr. Wadhwa was better suited to work in the C&P Section rather
    than Primary Care, because a C&P physician has less contact or collaboration with
    Dr. Murphy and other staff. Significantly, the agency presented clear evidence that
    there were disputes between Dr. Wadhwa and his supervisors over his alleged
    performance with patient care prior to the July 23, 2006 report of alleged safety
    violations. Initial Decision at 17.
    With respect to the second factor, the AJ found “very little motivation for all four
    managers to prevaricate and . . . for bias against [Dr. Wadhwa] based on any improper
    reason.” Initial Decision at 16. Specifically, she found that “[n]o manager seems to
    have been affected by the . . . disclosures. No manager appeared to be concerned
    2009-3167                                   5
    about the disclosures because the issues were not new or unknown, and for
    Drs. Murphy and Grippey, not even within their direct authority to implement.” Id. at 12.
    While Dr. Wadhwa argues that the testimony of the agency’s witnesses was lacking and
    unsubstantiated, he points to no contrary evidence.      We note that the Board did not
    specifically discuss whether the agency takes similar actions against employees who
    are not whistleblowers, but who are otherwise similarly situated. However, it appears
    that neither party presented evidence with respect to this factor. Given that no evidence
    was introduced on the third Carr factor, the Board’s failure to discuss it was at most
    harmless error.   Substantial evidence supports the Board’s finding that the agency
    showed by clear and convincing evidence that it would have reassigned Dr. Wadhwa
    absent the disclosure based on the analysis of the first two factors.
    Dr. Wadhwa contends that “the AJ erred in crediting the testimonies of the
    Agency’s witnesses without any supporting documentation over [Dr. Wadhwa’s]
    testimony and documentation” and that “the AJ made demeanor-based credibility
    findings without sufficiently sound reasons for doing so.” As the finder of fact, the AJ is
    in a unique position to make credibility determinations and evaluate the evidence on the
    record before her.     Accordingly, the AJ’s credibility determinations are “virtually
    unreviewable,” Hambsch v. Dep’t of Treasury, 
    796 F.2d 430
    , 436 (Fed. Cir. 1986), and
    we see no basis to overturn the Board’s finding here that the agency’s witnesses were
    credible.
    Dr. Wadhwa also contends that he was precluded from presenting witnesses to
    support his case. This argument is without merit. The proffered testimony of agency
    witnesses and the request for further cross-examination of agency witnesses were
    2009-3167                                    6
    untimely, and Wadhwa in any event has failed to establish that this testimony was
    relevant or non-cumulative. On the facts of this case, we do not find any abuse of
    discretion by the AJ in denying the admission of the proffered testimony.
    CONCLUSION
    We hold that the Board’s findings are supported by substantial evidence and
    therefore affirm the Board’s decision that DVA did not violate the WPA by reassigning
    Dr. Wadhwa from the Primary Care Clinic to the C&P Section of the PVAMC.
    No costs.
    2009-3167                                  7
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 2009-3167

Citation Numbers: 353 F. App'x 435

Judges: Dyk, Gajarsa, Moore, Per Curiam

Filed Date: 11/19/2009

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 8/3/2023