The new DoD personnel system also will change appeal
rights for employees as they are phased into the new
system. DoD will combine the separate procedures used
in conduct-based and performance-based cases, using for
both the higher standard of proof now applying in
conduct cases. Appeals still will go to Merit Systems
Protection Board hearing officers, but the department
will have authority to override their decisions by
invoking national security considerations. The hearing
officer’s decision–or the department’s action to
override that decision–could be appealed to the full
MSPB, but the board could lessen or reject management’s
choice of penalty only where it is “wholly without
justification” in light of the charges that were
sustained. DoD also will create a list of offenses for
which firing will be mandatory.
