Trump fires one-third of federal employee appeals board

Updated Feb. 11 at 3:38 p.m.

President Trump has removed a Democratic member of the quasi-judicial federal agency that hears appeals to firings and other disciplinary actions the government takes against its employees, clearing the way for the White House to install a Republican majority to the board as it seeks to push through efforts to upend the civil service. 

The White House notified the Merit Systems Protection Board on Monday evening that it had terminated Cathy Harris’ position on the agency’s central, three-member board. Ray Limon, another Democrat, had his position of vice chair stripped. On his first day in office, Trump named Henry Kerner, a Republican, as acting chair of the board. 

Most federal employees maintain statutorily protected rights to appeal firings, layoffs, suspensions and other adverse actions agencies take against them to MSPB. The matters first go to a regional administrative judge and agencies or employees can then appeal further to MSPB’s central board to determine whether the agency actions violated any legal prohibitions to the merit-based civil service.

The three-member panel, which issues precedent-setting rulings, is made up of presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed individuals. The Senate first confirmed Harris to the board in 2022 and as chair in 2024. She and Limon helped reconstitute the agency after it operated without a quorum for five years.

MSPB board members serve seven-year terms and, per federal statute, can only be removed for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”

With Limon and Kerner still in place, the board will maintain its quorum. By law, the board cannot have more than two members of the same party. 

Harris’ firing comes as Trump in recent days removed other key federal workforce oversight leaders, namely Hampton Dellinger at the Office of Special Counsel and David Huitema at the Office of Government Ethics. Dellinger has temporarily won his role back after a temporary restraining order in federal court prevented his firing from taking effect, though the Trump administration has appealed that ruling. 

The MSPB shakeup also comes as the Trump administration is taking unprecedented actions to remove federal workers for alleged insubordination or because it is seeking to wholesale shutter agencies. Most employees subject to reductions in force hold appeal rights to MSPB. 

Trump can now nominate a third member to the board, someone who presumably will be friendly to his and Elon Musk’s efforts to recast and shrink the federal workforce. 

Tom Devine, legal director at the Government Accountability Project, said MSPB is one of the few entities designed to protect federal employees and Harris' firing marked another assault on the civil service. 

“The merit system exists to ensure government service is about taxpayers—not politics," Devine said. "Undermining its ability to function through unjust firings doesn’t prevent waste and fraud: it is waste, and it is fraud.” 

Bill Spencer, MSPB’s executive director, said the agency has no further comment on the firing at this time. 

This story has been updated with additional comment.