
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled a longtime scientist and manager at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories was not effectively fired by the prime contractor when given only 24 hours to decide whether to retire. A three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit ruled Friday Robert Hwang was not “constructively terminated” when Honeywell [HON]-led National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia gave him a single day to decide whether to retire, submit to a performance improvement…