As Dick Vitale might say, “The Board is Back, Baby!” After nearly five years in an unprecedented holding pattern, the Senate has (finally!) approved two nominees to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) – the quasi-judicial agency tasked with enforcing merit systems principles and federal employee protections against discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, workplace favoritism and other prohibited personnel actions.
New Board Members Tristan Leavitt and Raymond Limon were unanimously confirmed by the Senate this week, providing the MSPB with a quorum, which is required for its central panel to decide even a single case. The new Board Members will have their work cut out for them as the long vacancies resulted in a backlog of more than 3,500 cases currently pending since January 8, 2017.
What Does This Mean for My MSPB Appeal?
While the nominees have pledged to address the backlog through an expedited process, petitioners can expect to continue to wait for their cases to be reviewed by the restored panel. The importance of having a functioning Board to adjudicate these cases promptly cannot be overstated.
The lack of the quorum has created the accumulation of thousands of petitions for the board members to review. As a result, employees that have suffered from a lack of meaningful employment in the public or private sector, or are continuing to experience arbitrary and capricious personnel actions within the federal government, will need to wait in line for their appeals to be decided as the backlog is addressed.
Reliable MSPB Counsel with 20+ Years of Experience
If you believe your case is headed for a Petition to Review (PFR) with the Board or you have a pending PFR, you may have other options available to you other than merely waiting for your case to be addressed. We, at Pines Federal Employment Attorneys, can individually assess and pursue the best legal strategy for accomplishing your goals. We will consider available options such as whether to move forward with the status quo of your PFR; to explore other options such as going to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; or to pursue other appropriate legal options. Our goal is, in the immortal words of Al Davis, to “Just Win, Baby!”
Please give us a call at (800) 801-0598 or fill out our convenient online form to set up a case consultation with one of our esteemed MSPB lawyers at Pines Federal.