MSPB Review of Placement Program Would End

The DoD request also would end the Merit System Protection Board’s jurisdiction over DoD’s “priority placement program,” the main mechanism through which the Pentagon attempts to find other jobs in the department for employees displaced through downsizing. It said the program since its inception four decades ago has placed 170,000 employees who otherwise might have faced separation. It said that MSPB review of placement actions taken under the program “disrupts final placement of affected employees, hinders mission accomplishment pending resolution of such appeals, and, to date, has had no direct effect on the outcome of previous MSPB cases.” The proposal would give the Secretary of Defense sole control over the program and state that MSPB has no jurisdiction over placements through it.