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United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

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Nor was Terreri presented as evidence <strong>of</strong> disparate treatment compared to<br />

MacLean. What matters to demonstrate retaliatory animus against FLEOA leaders<br />

is how hard <strong>the</strong> agency tried, and how ugly <strong>the</strong> harassment, against <strong>the</strong>m both.<br />

Like MacLean, Terreri was placed under retaliatory investigation. But he also was<br />

humiliated at his home in front <strong>of</strong> neighbors, contrary to standard procedure, and<br />

<strong>the</strong> agency withheld news <strong>for</strong> six weeks that he had been cleared. Donzanti<br />

oversaw <strong>the</strong> harassment. Terreri’s experience is fur<strong>the</strong>r evidence <strong>of</strong> a retaliatory<br />

pattern that Donzanti carried out <strong>for</strong> Quinn against FLEOA leaders.<br />

FLEOA leadership and associated free speech issues are behind Quinn’s<br />

animus, his harassment through <strong>the</strong> PCU and subordinates like Donzanti, and <strong>the</strong><br />

origins <strong>of</strong> MacLean’s termination. They are properly be<strong>for</strong>e <strong>the</strong> Board, which has<br />

not considered material issues <strong>of</strong> fact and law which on <strong>the</strong> undisputed record are<br />

sufficient to prove prohibited personnel practices.<br />

IV. MACLEAN’S TERMINATION VIOLATED THE<br />

WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT.<br />

In MacLean I, 112 M.S.P.R. 4, 12-13 (2009), <strong>the</strong> Board held that <strong>the</strong><br />

Whistleblower Protection Act did not apply, because <strong>the</strong> agency’s SSI regulations<br />

canceled his right to make public disclosures under 5 USC §2302(b)(8)(A),<br />

available unless, inter alia, in<strong>for</strong>mation released “is specifically prohibited by<br />

law.” Previously <strong>the</strong> only decision to consider <strong>the</strong> issue unanimously held that in<br />

51

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