Senate Ready to Restrict Some Appeal Rights

The repercussions from the VA scandal continue to widen, with the Senate planning to vote as soon as this week on a wide-ranging bill that among other things would make it easier for the agency to fire or demote senior executives on performance grounds. The bill would allow appeals although greatly shortening that process — requiring the employee to file the appeal within one week and requiring MSPB to issue a decision within three weeks afterward. In the meantime, the individual would be ineligible for any types of awards, incentives or other types of cash payments, and MSBP could not “stay” the action pending the appeal. Currently, the allowed time to file an appeal is 30 days, and there is no deadline for MSPB to decide a case; most take many months. Further, under the bill, MSPB’s decision would be the final word—it could not be appealed into federal court, as is currently allowed. The bill does not go as far as an earlier House-passed bill that would allow no appeal rights; House leaders have indicated that they are open to accepting the Senate language. The outcome of the proposals affecting executives at VA is widely considered a precedent for potential similar changes at other agencies.