Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, MSPB NEWS—Backlog may be nearly gone, but new one likely to appear after skyrocketing MSPB appeals, (May 13, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

As of the moment in 2022 when a quorum was restored to the MSPB, there were 3,793 cases awaiting final Board decisions; more than twice that many new appeals have been logged by regional and field offices in the past three months.

Between March 4, 2022, and April 9, 2025, with the exception of a few days, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) had a quorum. Prior to that, from January 7, 2017, to March 3, 2022, it was lacking one, resulting in a backlog of nearly 3,800 unresolved cases awaiting final Board decisions. From March 4, 2022, through April 9, 2025, that number was whittled down to only nine, while ongoing business continued.

With Chairman Harris’s termination by the Trump administration, however, and the retirement of Member Limon, a MSPB’s quorum lapsed again on April 9, 2025. And the agency’s current lack of a quorum coincides with unprecedented job losses in the federal government—Harris was only one of the many thousands of federal employees who summarily lost their jobs during the early days of the second Trump administration.

Spike in appeals. The MSPB has thus seen a major spike in the number of new appeals its regional and field offices have received. Between January 19, 2025 and May 10, 2025 alone, 9,333 appeals have been filed with MSPB’s regional and field offices. By way of comparison, according to fiscal year reports, in FY 2023, 4,135 appeals were made to regional and field offices; in FY 2022, 4,241 appeals were made to those offices; in FY 2021, 4,649 appeals were made; and in FY 2020, 5,265 appeals were made in the regional and field offices.

MSPB appeal fee? Seemingly intent on capitalizing on the newest numbers, one aspect of the budget-proposal by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee would impose a fee on federal employees who file appeals with the MSPB. Along with “at-will” employment for new federal employees, the Committee has claimed that a $4.5 billion cost savings for FY 2025-FY 2034 would be realized. AFGE has already spoken out on this proposal, stating that, “[i]f enacted, this proposal will deter federal employees from pursuing legitimate claims of discrimination, political retaliation, and workplace abuse, a process that helps ensure the integrity and nonpartisanship of the civil service. The right to seek relief from alleged government wrongdoing should not be contingent on paying what amounts to an entry fee.”

With so many new appeals coming to the MSPB, there is little reason to doubt that an equally large, if not much larger, backlog of unresolved cases could be seen by the time a quorum is restored.

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