FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Over 100 Civil Society Organizations Urge Senate to Vote on Pending MSPB Nominations
WASHINGTON – This week, 104 organizations released a letter to Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell to urge them to allow the full Senate to vote on pending nominations to all three vacancies on the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The MSPB is the primary adjudicative agency for worker claims of whistleblower retaliation and other prohibited personnel practices for federal employees, and is essential to the prevention of waste, fraud, and abuse of power.
The board hasn’t had a quorum for more than five years, and it hasn’t had any members at all since March 2019, resulting in the largest-ever backlog of more than 3,500 cases. As a result, government whistleblowers waiting for board review of their retaliation claims remain in limbo while their only due process channel for relief under the Whistleblower Protection Act is paralyzed. This inaction opens an opportunity to many larger issues, including federal agencies taking advantage of the long wait on unresolved cases, large back pay ordered to be paid to federal employees with wrongful termination or demotion claims, and the jeopardizing of the existence of meaningfully enforceable employment rights for millions of Americans.
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