MSPB’s hearing officers received a surge of cases in late February and March following the widespread layoffs of probationary employees; those numbers settled down for several months but have begun rising again. Image: Nuk2013/Shutterstock.com
A backlog of cases before the MSPB governing board that had been all but cleared out earlier this year has started to build again, as the board lacks a quorum to consider appeals of decisions by the agency’s hearing officers.
A backlog of just under 3,800 cases built up as the agency had lacked a quorum through the first Trump administration into early 2022, when confirmations under the Biden administration restored a quorum. That had been reduced to just 9 cases by the end of April.
The term of one of the Democratic members had expired in February, and in April, the U.S. Supreme Court had lifted an injunction that had kept Democrat Cathy Harris on the board despite her firing by the White House in February.
Harris is challenging her firing as contrary to the law governing the removal of heads of independent agencies, a case that remains pending even though the injunction was lifted.
That has left only Henry Kerner, the acting chairman, on the board.
MSPB’s hearing officers received a surge of cases in late February and March following the widespread layoffs of probationary employees; those numbers settled down for several months but have begun rising again, as layoffs have resumed, this time involving tenured employees, as well.
Meanwhile, the number of “petitions for review” being received at the board level has started to increase–as has the backlog, in the absence of a quorum—potentially leaving employees with lengthy waits for a resolution, as happened previously.
That trend could pick up in the time ahead with further layoffs, which the OPM has projected to be in the tens of thousands.
A nominee for the seat vacated in February has cleared the committee level on the Senate side and is awaiting a floor vote.
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