meat inspector with the Department of Agriculture would not be protected against retaliation by his superiors if they were displeased with his reports of serious health and safety violations by a meat packing plant." "The whole point of the WPA," Special Counsel Kaplan observed, "is that government employees, because of their job duties, are in a position to discover misconduct and malfeasance." Finally, Kaplan noted, "the Federal Circuit's ruling that the WPA does not protect employees who make their disclosures directly to the person they suspect of wrongdoing is contrary to public policy because it would discourage employees from attempting to raise and resolve their concerns within the chain of command. An employee may reasonably suspect that their superior has engaged in misconduct, but may wish to confront the superior with their suspicions first, before making them public." In such situations, Special Counsel Kaplan observed, "the Federal Circuit's ruling would perversely require the employees to go public and embarrass the agency in order to maintain the Act's protection, where their concerns might well have been resolved in-house." References External links U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Whistleblower protection legislation Whistleblowing in the United States Grounds for termination of employment United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit cases Whistleblower 2001 in United States case law United States public employment case law United States Office of Personnel Management