Mark Robbins, the last remaining MSPB member, looks through cases in his office in August. His term expires March 1.

Mark Robbins, the last remaining MSPB member, looks through cases in his office in August. His term expires March 1. Juliet Linderman / AP

Federal Employee Appeals Board May Soon Finally Be Able to Hear Cases

Panel approves two MSPB nominees, but there's a catch.

The quasi-judicial board that rules on federal employees’ challenges to adverse personnel actions took a first step toward renewed relevance on Wednesday, as a Senate panel approved two of President Trump’s nominees to lead the agency.

Those nominees will not receive final confirmation to the Merit Systems Protection Board, however, until Trump nominates someone for the third vacant slot. Trump had selected individuals to serve on all three slots of the panel, but the most controversial of them—Andrew Maunz—withdrew his name from consideration Tuesday evening. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said at Wednesday’s vote the two nominees the committee approved will now sit in limbo until the White House puts forward a third name.

MSPB lost its quorum in January 2017—and with it, its ability to render decisions—resulting in the largest ever backlog of cases before the board. For the last two years, Mark Robbins has been the lone remaining board member. He has been able to perform administrative and executive functions, but not act on any petitions for reviews of decisions made by regional administrative judges. Those judges have continued to issue rulings, thousands of which employees or agencies have appealed to the central board where they now are piling up. Robbins has continued to weigh in on the appeals, but nothing can happen to them until a new member is confirmed.

Robbins’ term expires March 1, at which point his opinions would be thrown out. The committee was set to consider a measure that would have allowed him to sit on the board for one additional year, but Johnson opted not to take it up for a vote. In December, Trump appointed Robbins to concurrently serve as general counsel at the Office of Personnel Management.

The committee approved MSPB chairman nominee Dennis Kirk and board member Julia Clark on a bipartisan basis. Only Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., opposed the nominees, noting his objection was not with the individuals but with the agency as a whole.

“Over time it’s kind of morphed into a job protection [board], not really merit evaluation,” Paul said, adding that it enables federal employees to keep their jobs when they would be fired in any other line of work. He further explained that Congress should allow MSPB to be rendered useless.

“The idea that we’re having trouble getting people on the board, we can use as an opportunity to say 'Hey let’s just vote against the merit board and then let’s get together to reform it,' ” Paul said. “It could be a bipartisan reform.”

Maunz, Trump’s third MSPB pick, withdrew his name this week after the controversy surrounding his nomination forced a delay to a scheduled committee vote in the last Congress. His previous service in the Social Security Administration’s general counsel office troubled Democrats and some board observers.

Kirk and Clark, meanwhile, effusively praised federal workers and the laws that protect them during their confirmation hearings last year. The chairman-designate said MSPB should serve to “celebrate [federal employees'] service,” while Clark called civil service laws fundamental to a functioning democracy.

Johnson said his committee will now work with the White House to secure a third nominee before the end of the month.

“On March 1, the board will no longer have any members and it’s important for us to work together to confirm president’s nominees as quickly as possible,” Johnson said. The chairman previously stated he wanted to confirm all three nominees at once to ensure “a partisan majority in favor of the president’s policies.”

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to remove information related to a suit filed against the SSA prior to Andrew Maunz joining the office.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.