MSPB Cites Impact on Other Cases

MSPB meanwhile has said that even though relatively few cases have arisen under the current shortcut process for executives at the VA, the law is affecting its ability to promptly decide other cases–and it sees the situation growing more severe if similar restrictions are enacted for other federal employees. “In our experience, to meet the timeline and ensure each party is afforded due process and full and fair adjudication, the MSPB AJ assigned to the case, and often a team of other MSPB legal staff members, have had to suspend processing of other adjudicatory work until a decision is issued in the VA SES case. This naturally slows the processing of the other non-VA SES cases in which these legal staff members are involved,” said the board’s newly released annual performance plan. It said that passing legislation pending in Congress to similarly shorten appeal processing for all of VA’s GS employees or to all federal employees would “affect the due process rights of these employees. It also will affect MSPB’s ability to adjudicate these appeals within the timelines contained in the law, and simultaneously process appeals from non-VA appellants who have the right to file appeals with MSPB.” In addition, some of those proposals would extend MSPB appeal rights to tens of thousands of VA medical personnel who currently lack them, and the board “does not have the resources” to handle that additional workload. Another pending bill, to require the VA to revoke bonuses paid to employees involved in the wait-list manipulations, would create a new type of case appealable to MSPB and “would compound the effects of the original VA SES legislation.”