Protected Disclosures
If you blew the whistle (or made “disclosures” to the management, OSC, or to OIG); and, thereafter, if you were retaliated against for blowing whistle; you can file a whistleblower retaliation “complaint” with Office of Special Counsel (OSC). 120 days thereafter, you can then file the same whistleblower retaliation “appeal” with Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
5 USC § 2302(a)(2)(D) defines protected disclosures as reporting (to the management, OSC, or to Office of Investigation General (OIG)) regarding:
(i) any violation of any law, rules, or regulations; or
(ii) gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, and abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.
5 USC § 2302(f)(1) provides that the following means of disclosures are not excluded from protection (i.e., they count as valid disclosures):
(A) the disclosure [that] was made to a supervisor or to a person who participated in an activity that the employee or applicant reasonably believed to be covered by subsection (b)(8)(A)(i) and (ii) [i.e., disclosing information pertaining to violation of law, rules, or regulations, or pertaining to gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, and abuse of authority or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety].
(B) the disclosure revealed information that had been previously disclosed.
(C) [regardless] of the employee’s or applicant’s motive for making the disclosure.
(D) the disclosure was not made in writing.
(E) the disclosure was made while the employee was off duty.
(F) the disclosure was made before the date on which the individual was appointed or applied for appointment to a position; or
(G) [regardless] of the amount of time which has passed since the occurrence of the events described in the disclosure.
Therefore, a verbal disclosure to your supervisor counts as protected, if you disclosed the agency’s violation of law, rules, regulations, or gross mismanagement, waste of funds, abuse of authority, or endangering public health and safety in specific or substantial ways.