Historical Roots

That year, the Civil Service Act, also called the Pendleton Act for the Democratic senator from Ohio who introduced the bill, mandated that 10 percent of federal workers be hired based on their professional merits, with jobs going to the highest scorers on competitive exams. By 1932, basic merit principles would govern about 80 percent of civilian positions. The Pendleton Act also established the Civil Service Commission to set and administer personnel policy. The law granted no due process rights, however, so supervisors retained full discretion to fire employees.

Fifteen years later, merit system advocate President Theodore Roosevelt established a due process right by executive order, which Congress incorporated into law in 1912. Staff now could only be fired if doing so would promote an agency's efficiency. But there was still no appeal mechanism. That changed for veterans in 1944, when Congress ordered the Civil Service Commission to hear their complaints. President Kennedy later extended this right to most federal workers.

But there were problems. Because the commission didn't rely on precedent, decisions were inconsistent. There was also concern about the agency's conflicting duties. "A lot of folks had been complaining that you needed an independent agency to resolve these disputes, that it wasn't quite right to have the entity that was promulgating rules-the Civil Service Commission-to also resolve disputes that arose from those rules," Erdreich says.

By 1978, debate finally led to passage of the Civil Service Reform Act. The law stated: "Federal personnel management should be implemented consistent with merit system principles and free from prohibited personnel practices."

For the first time, merit principles such as equal pay for equal work and employee protection from improper political influence were spelled out in statute. The law replaced the Civil Service Commission with several new agencies. The independent MSPB was to settle personnel disputes between agencies and employees. A research arm of the board was to evaluate personnel practices and do long-range strategic planning on human resources issues. The Office of Personnel Management was to set personnel policy. The Federal Labor Relations Authority was to arbitrate labor-management disputes. The Office of Special Counsel was to investigate federal whistleblower complaints. And the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was to expand its jurisdiction to include federal sector cases.

Today, the MSPB's 68 administrative judges at 10 offices nationwide and the three-member board have jurisdiction over 1.7 million civilian and postal employees-two-thirds of the full-time civilian workforce. The cases they hear include:

• Firings
• Suspensions of more than 14 days
• Reductions in pay or grade
• Reduction-in-force actions
• Discrimination and nepotism
  complaints
• Disciplinary reprisals for whistle - blowing.

Most federal employees have never been affected by such actions or had reason to deal with the MSPB. Indeed, only 11 percent of supervisors have been involved in a complaint or appeal filed with the board, according to a 1997 MSPB study called "Issues of Merit." But the precedents created by board decisions are part of an ever-expanding body of case law that, indirectly at least, affects every federal employee.