Other Issues Decided

The appeals court’s ruling also sided with DoD on several other objections the unions raised to the NSPS rules. It rejected the union contention that an internal DoD “national security labor relations board” that would take over many of the adjudicatory powers of the Federal Labor Relations Authority for DoD employees would not be sufficiently independent from management. Also, it found that the revised appeal rights—including a new layer of internal review before employees can appeal to MSPB–were sufficient to give employees the required “fair treatment.” However, as in a similar case involving DHS that was decided last year, the court held that certain other appeals provisions were not yet ripe for review because no one has been subjected to them yet. Those include limits on MSPB’s discretion to lessen the penalties chosen by management in disciplinary cases, and mandating firing for certain offenses. Changes in job classification, performance evaluation and pay were not before the court.