United States Merit Systems Protection Board

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is an independent quasi-judicial agency established in 1979 to protect federal merit systems against partisan political and other prohibited personnel practices and to ensure adequate protection for federal employees against abuses by agency management. When an employee of most Executive Branch agencies is separated from his or her position, or suspended for more than 14 days, the employee can request that an employee of MSPB conduct a hearing into the matter by submitting an appeal, generally within 30 days. In that hearing, the agency will have to prove that the action was warranted and the employee will have the opportunity to present evidence that it was not. A decision of MSPB is binding unless set aside on appeal to federal court. Along with the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the MSPB is a successor agency of the United States Civil Service Commission. The board had gone without a quorum for the entire Trump administration, with the last member retiring at the end of February 2019. Board quorum resumed on March 4, 2022 upon the swearing in of Raymond Limon and Tristan Leavitt.