MSPB Becoming More Employee Friendly

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is an independent agency whose function is to protect federal merit systems against partisan political hiring practices and other abuses by those that manage these agencies. In short, the MSPB is there to guard against cronyism and political patronage. This agency is charged with ensuring that Federal employees are protected against abuses by agency management and that these agencies make employment decisions in accordance with the merit system principals, and that the Federal merit system is kept free from prohibited practices. However, while this is the mission statement of the MSPB, those that follow the cases brought before them would say that the agency is more, or less, sympathetic to the cases brought before them and that recently they appear to be somewhat more employee friendly.

One of the reasons cited for the MSPB coming down more on the side of employee rights is that two of the newest members of the board are appointees of the Obama Administration. And these two members couldn't have come onboard soon enough regarding the case of Teresa Chambers, chief of the U.S. Park Police, who was reinstated to her job by the MSPB after she was suspended, and then fired from her post for her comments in a Washington Post article about safety in the department.


On two different occasions Ms. Chambers's case was heard by the MSPB and in both instances the board ruled against her. Sensing that she had a chance to successfully appeal the decision, Ms. Chambers brought her case to federal court and in 2009 the MSPB decision was overturned and sent back to the MSPB to review the charges brought by Ms. Chambers against the U.S. park service and the Department of the Interior. Now, with two of the three members on the MSPB board being new appointees by the Obama Administration, Ms. Chambers was vindicated and ordered the Interior Department to reinstate her to her post.

Following the decision Ms. Chambers said that if it weren't for the new faces on the board she would never have gotten her position back since the MSPB already denied her claims on two different occasions. The new members of the MSPB board are Susan Tsui Grundmann and Anne M. Wagner.

The MSPB decision in the Chambers case is just one example of the changes at the agency since Ms. Grundmann and Ms. Wagner have been on the board. A spokesperson for the Government Accountability Project, an employee advocacy organization, said recently that under the present board of governors the board has made more progress toward protecting the federal merit system than in any other year since it was created in 1978 by the Civil Service Reform Act. He went on to note that the MSPB has issued landmark precedents that restored its authority to enforce the merit system and has reversed a decade long trend of ruling against supposed whistleblowers, who came before the board arguing their cases of being discriminated against for their actions. In 2010, there were more cases decided in favor of whistleblowers by the MSPB than in the entire decade preceding it.

The MSPB has also recently begun publishing precedential and non-precedential decisions made by the board on its Web site; an action that the agency has been promising for some time. Many that follow the comings and goings of the MSPB say that publishing both decisions is necessary and efficient. The decision to publish non-precedential opinions is essential to transparency and that making both types of decisions public on their Web site has been a boost to helping appellants through the overall process.


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