MSPB, Postal Service put pending personnel cases to rest

A partnership between the U.S. Postal Service and the Merit Systems Protection Board has produced faster resolutions to pending personnel cases.

The board is an independent agency that decides federal employees' appeals against major agency personnel actions, including dismissals, demotions and reductions in force.

In March, the board decided to use the latter part of the year to focus on closing its oldest pending cases, specifically cases where employees had filed petitions asking the board to enforce orders the agency had issued in earlier appeals. When the initiative kicked off, there were 10 cases with an average "open" time of 687 days.

Because the Postal Service had the greatest number of pending enforcement cases-six, with an average age of 777 days-the board met with agency officials to enlist their aid in resolving the cases.

"As a result of that meeting, a Postal Service headquarters official has been designated to act as a liaison for compliance," said Beth Slavet, acting chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board. "The board now advises the USPS liaison when it receives an administrative judge's decision finding noncompliance by the Postal Service."

By Sept. 5, five of the Postal Service cases were closed and the average number of days for pending cases was down to 470.

"I hope this approach will serve as an example to other agencies and that their Washington headquarters will take a more active role in ensuring that managers in the field comply with MSPB orders," Slavet said.