Observation. Evidence. Proportion.
The record must survive the example.
A finding and a contrary outcome. Neither should be made to say more than it does.
NRC EA-96-051 / Turkey Point / Official finding
An evaluation order found retaliatory.
In 1996, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission adopted the Labor Secretary’s finding that an evaluation ordered for engineer Regino R. Diaz-Robainas was retaliatory. He had been discharged in 1991 after refusing it.
The employer disputed the conclusion, citing performance, behavior, and insubordination. The NRC’s notice proposed a $100,000 civil penalty; a proposal should not be described here as proof that a fine was paid.
Important limit: the NRC also distinguished legitimate safety-related fitness and access requirements. This finding does not establish that every evaluation, restriction, or disagreement is retaliatory.
Patrickson / FitzPatrick / Claim rejected on review
The contrary outcome stays visible.
The Public Records Office records a later employment dispute in which the Administrative Review Board reversed a favorable ruling and did not sustain the retaliation claim. Its case page expressly leaves evaluation-specific appellate reasoning as a research gap.
We do not count this case as an established retaliation finding or infer what a decision did not expressly determine.
Working illustration / Not a reported case
A changed design is not a changed character.
A revised drawing can reflect new evidence, a discovered error, or an unexplained departure. The revision alone does not choose among those accounts. Compare versions, test the reason for the change, and preserve the result.