On March 1, the U.S. Senate confirmed Raymond Limon and Tristan Leavitt to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which oversees all federal employee whistleblower retaliation cases. Prior to their confirmation, the Board had been without a quorum, or the number of Board members necessary to function, since January 8, 2017.
The lack of a quorum has been catastrophic for federal employee whistleblowers, whose cases have stalled at the nonfunctioning Board. Because of its lack of quorum, the MSPB has been unable to issue a final ruling on a whistleblower retaliation case for over five years. This has led to an immense backlog of over 3500 cases, at least 750 of which are whistleblower retaliation cases, a Freedom of Information Act request by WNN revealed in January of 2021.
The Senate’s March 1 votes were confirmed by voice. Tristan Leavitt, who was nominated to serve as a Board member on September 2, 2021, will serve on the MSPB for a term of seven years until March 1, 2023. Raymond Limon will serve as a Board member for a seven-year term, to expire on March 1, 2025.
Both Leavitt and Limon’s nominations were widely supported by whistleblower advocates. On February 15, a collection of close to one hundred civil society organizations, including WNN, sent a letter to Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urging the Senate leaders to allow the full Senate to vote on the nominees.
Concerns remain about how the MSPB will work through the massive backlog...
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