Merit Systems Protection Board

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Nearly half of 14,000 federal employees surveyed said they had witnessed or experienced a prohibited personnel practice while on the job in 2016, including rules protecting whistleblowers.

The percentage of employees aware of violations jumped to 46 percent in 2016 from 34 percent in 2010, according to a new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The report notes that perceptions of reprisal for whistleblowing nearly doubled between 2010 and 2016, from 8.1 percent to 14.3.

The report notes: “Employees need to believe that they can safely disclose wrongdoing, and this is less likely to occur if they believe they have seen others experience retaliation for it, or if they feel that disclosures they made in the past led to retaliation by agency officials.”…

Continue Reading Growing number of federal employees report increase in discrimination and whistleblower reprisals

All three position on the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) are now empty with the expiration of the only member’s appointment. In February, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved two of President Trump’s MSPB nominees, but the full Senate has not considered them yet.

A letter from groups representing federal workers, as well as whistleblower and taxpayer advocates, raised concerns about the future of the board.

The MSPB is a three-person board which hears appeals of lower level personnel decisions. The Board hears whistleblower cases and is the backstop for maintaining a non-partisan, professional civil service as the sole enforcement body on many cases. It has not had a quorum since just before President Trump took office. The MSPB needs a quorum of two to act. The term of the single sitting member, Mark A. Robbins, ended on February 28.

A Washington Post column about unfilled political position mentions the MSPB.

The MSPB has a vital mission, namely, to oversee federal hiring, employee management and firing, as well as to provide protection against whistleblower retaliation in government. Perhaps the most invisible force at work at the MSPB is upholding the constitutional legal principles of due process and checks and balances that apply across all three branches of government. That makes the work of the MSPB crucial to making democracy work across the U.S. government. Davidson. …
Continue Reading Yet another try to confirm MSPB board nominees. Then, on to a 2,000-case backlog.

Washington, D.C. September 8, 2015. In a precedent setting decision, Savage v. Department of the Army, 2015 M.S.B.P. 51 (Sept. 3, 2015), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) ruled that the creation of a hostile work environment standing alone violates the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA). The WPA provides protection to federal workers who blow the whistle on fraud within the federal government.  …
Continue Reading MSPB Rules Creation of Hostile Work Environment Violates WPA

Today the National Whistleblower Center filed an Amicus Curiae brief with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), in the case of Day v. Department of Homeland Security. At issue is whether the new definition of a protected disclosure set forth in the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act will apply to cases pending and/or which arose before that law was passed.
Continue Reading MSPB Urged to Retroactively Apply WEPA

Today, the National Whistleblowers Center and the No FEAR Coalition announced their support for the immediate passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) for federal employee whistleblowers. The decision to support the Senate version (S. 743) of the WPEA came after the Senate removed a final poison pill from the bill.
Continue Reading NWC and No FEAR Coalition Announce Endorsement of Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act

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The Senate’s Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee (part of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee) will hold a confirmation hearing for two members of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) on Tuesday, October 20, 2009, starting at 2:30 pm Eastern time. The hearing will be in Room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building…