Washington Watch
Senate Committee Considers MSPB Nominees
O
n September 22, the Senate took the next step in restoring a quorum to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), with the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs holding a hearing to consider the President’s three nominees to serve as members on the board—Cathy Harris, Raymond Limon and Tristan Leavitt. Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-MI, and Ranking Member Rob Portman, R-OH, both expressed concerns with the state of the agency and recognized the importance of restoring a quorum. The MSPB’s primary function is to review and adjudicate federal employee appeals of disputed actions, such as adverse personnel actions. The agency has been unable to adjudicate on appeals since early 2017, resulting in a backlog of more than 3,400 cases. Cathy Harris, the nominee for chair of the board, said that, if confirmed, the board’s top priority will be to reduce the backlog. All three nominees agreed that using expedited methods to issue decisions would help
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NARFE MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2021
lower the backlog significantly. These methods include “short form decisions,” which allow the board to issue a verdict without a lengthy explanation of the adjudication, most commonly in instances where the board has nothing to add to an administrative judge’s
“well-reasoned” opinion on a case. The board also plans to employ “alternative dispute resolutions” when the circumstances of an appeal have changed enough since it was originally issued to warrant a new resolution, such as if an employee who submitted an appeal for his or her termination moved to a new job. Portman raised concerns about barriers to whistleblowing, asking the nominees if whistleblower protection laws should be reviewed by MSPB, which conducts studies on
NOVEMBER ACTION ALERT: URGE COSPONSORSHIP OF WEP AND GPO REPEAL BILL NARFE is calling on lawmakers to cosponsor the Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82 and S. 1302, legislation to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). These long-standing provisions unfairly reduce the Social Security benefits of more than 2.6 million people nationwide. Use NARFE’s Legislative Action Center (www.NARFE.org) to personalize a message to your Representative and Senators requesting their cosponsorship.
