MSPB has said that because it has been receiving a flood of appeals from furloughed DoD employees—several unions there are encouraging employees to appeal and instructing them how to do it—for now it can do no more than docket the cases. MSPB is sending out standard acknowledgements that the appeals have been received but it will not even start considering those appeals while it sorts through questions such as common issues being raised, which regional office should handle a case and who if anyone is representing the employee. Some may be handled as class-action type cases. The flow should slow once the period for DoD employees to file appeals passes soon—the deadline is 30 days after an individual’s first furlough day—but how soon afterward their cases will get attention is unknown. MSPB meanwhile is continuing to process furlough appeals from employees of other agencies; to date all of those decisions at the hearing officer level apparently have upheld the agency’s action. Legal experts have warned that employees face a difficult task in challenging a furlough; if successful, employees would receive back pay but the filing of an appeal does not prevent an employee from being furloughed.
