In a recent Bloomberg Law article on the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal workforce, KCNF’s Keir Bickerstaffe discussed the impact of leadership gaps and staffing cuts at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
As of the date of the article, the MSPB had received over 11,000 new cases since Trump took office, more than double what it received in the entirety of fiscal year 2024, according to the agency’s records.
Keir explained that while administrative judges are still hearing cases and issuing initial decisions, Board decisions are stalled without a quorum:
“Once an administrative judge issues a recommended decision and there’s an appeal for that decision, if there’s no quorum, it’ll just sit there. Some MSPB cases sat untouched for five years after the first Trump administration left the board with no quorum.”
The article highlights how these delays, combined with changes at the Federal Labor Relations Authority, are leaving federal employees and their unions with limited options to challenge adverse actions.
Read the full Bloomberg Law article here.