Management

Key federal workforce agencies get confirmed leaders

Biden finally has confirmed heads at the primary civil service enforcement agencies.

Management

Senate panel advances watchdog, labor nominees

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported four nominees for adjudicative agencies recently hamstrung by vacancy-related case backlogs to the Senate floor for final consideration.

Pay & Benefits

Supreme Court to hear arguments on federal employee furlough case

The case was significantly delayed as the agency that initially hears federal worker appeals was non-functional for five years.

Workforce

Senate takes first steps to refill federal workforce watchdog roles

At the civil service appeals agency, parts of the workforce are voicing frustration with current leadership.

Workforce

Court opens up more discretion for reducing feds’ punishments

Federal employees facing firings will have an easier time mitigating that discipline to a lower form of punishment under new precedent.

Management

Biden looks to swap leadership at civil service watchdog agencies

White House nominates a Trump appointee for a new role overseeing enforcement of civil service laws.

Workforce

Feds Reported ‘Notable Levels’ of Perceived Banned Personnel Practices in 2021

This “data is only a starting point, not the finishing line,” said the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Workforce

Merit Board: Agencies Must Tell Employees to Pick One Place to File Personnel Action Appeals, and Stick With It

An Air Force civilian worker was never informed that she could not both file a union grievance and have the Merit Systems Protection Board hear her case.

Management

Appeals Panel for Feds No Longer Whole As Former Board Member Runs for Office

The Merit Systems Protection Board, now once again dealing with a vacancy as former member runs for state House in West Virginia, vows to continue working on its backlog.

Workforce

Court Affirms That Federal Employee Appeals Agency's Judges Are Constitutionally Appointed

A ruling for the appellant could have upended enforcement of civil service protections for federal workers.

Workforce

Federal Employee Appeals Board Still Has Years of Work Ahead to Cut Through Its Record Backlog

Board has made slow but steady progress in reducing its workload after Congress incapacitated it for five years.

Workforce

Don’t Fear the Public Service Reform Act

A former chief human capital officer says it is time to re-center and simplify the rules to balance individual fairness and organizational effectiveness in the federal government.

Workforce

'There Needs to Be a Reckoning': Republicans Introduce a Bill to Make Feds At-Will Employees

The legislation, along with recent talk of a renewed effort to implement Schedule F, makes clear that a “major assault” on the federal civil service is coming, regardless of who the next Republican presidential nominee will be.

Workforce

Trump Has Endorsed a Plan to Purge the Civil Service of ‘Rogue Bureaucrats’

Former Trump staffers have said they have identified 50,000 federal employees who would be ousted under a new iteration of Schedule F during the next Republican administration.

Management

Being Left Out of Meetings or Yelled at Isn’t Always Enough to Claim Whistleblower Protections

Still, MSPB says it will broadly interpret civil service laws to cumulatively examine management’s actions.

Workforce

Biden’s Board Appointees Promise to Finally Provide Feds ‘Extra Insurance’ Against Mistreatment

After five years, a restored Merit Systems Protection Board is setting new precedents with sweeping impacts for the civil service.