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President Nominates Third Member to Serve on Merit Systems Protection Board

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has been without a quorum and unable to review agency and employee appeals for more than four years. But it could soon be restored to full membership.

On September 3, President Biden announced his third pick to serve on the MSPB, Tristan Leavitt, who currently serves as MSPB’s general counsel and acting chief executive, and would fill the last spot on the board. He joins Biden’s two other nominees from earlier this year: Raymond Limon, the chief human capital officer for the Interior Department, and Cathy Harris, an employment attorney. According to reporting from Federal News Network, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing in “the coming weeks” to consider the three nominees.

The MSPB’s primary function is to review and adjudicate federal employee appeals of disputed actions, such as adverse personnel actions. Additionally, the agency conducts studies on the merit system and reviews significant actions by the Office of Personnel Management to assess the potential effects on merit systems. However, the board has been without quorum since early 2017 and thus unable to weigh in on employee appeals, resulting in a backlog of more than 3,300 cases that still await action by board members.