Nebraska Revised Statutes Chapter 81. State Administrative Departments § 81-2703. Terms, defined

(1) Agency shall mean any agency, department, board, commission, or other governmental unit of the State of Nebraska acting or purporting to act by reason of connection with the State of Nebraska but shall not include (a) any court, (b) any member or employee of the Legislature or the Legislative Council, (c) the Governor or his or her personal staff, (d) any political subdivision or entity thereof, (e) any instrumentality formed pursuant to an interstate compact and answerable to more than one state, or (f) any entity of the federal government;

(2) Employee shall mean any person employed by an agency, regardless of rank;

(3) Official shall mean any elected state official;

(4) Personnel action shall include dismissing, demoting, transferring, reassigning, suspending, reprimanding, admonishing, reducing in rank, or reclassifying an employee, withholding work from an employee of an agency, requiring an employee to submit to a fitness-for-duty examination or take disability retirement, any other involuntary action taken against an employee, or any threat thereof made against an employee; and

(5) Wrongdoing shall include any action by an agency or employee which (a) is a violation of any law, (b) results in gross mismanagement or gross waste of funds, or (c) creates a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.