The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. Part of its mandate is to protect federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing.

During the spring semesters of 2012 and 2013, HNMCP students evaluated and made recommendations on several aspects of the OSC’s alternative dispute resolution program. The resulting improvement for OSC in achieving positive outcomes has dramatically raised its public profile, creating new challenges by increasing to historic levels the demand for its ADR services. OSC now invites HNMCP to make agency-wide dispute systems design recommendations on its complaint processing structure—from intake through resolution—to achieve maximum results for the parties.

Activities:

• Assess, analyze and make recommendations as to the most efficient dispute processing system for OSC’s three prosecutorial statutory case types: Prohibited Personnel Practices, the Hatch Act, and Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act cases.
• Assess, analyze and make recommendations on the best design structure for handling cases in which an individual files both a whistleblower reprisal complaint and makes a related whistleblower disclosure to OSC.

Field Visit