Without a quorum on the Merit Systems Protection Board, the board is unable to issue decisions for appeals, leaving thousands in limbo and a critical part of the civil service system non-functional.
The agency is modernizing its online appeals system used by feds. Accessibility needs to be a central part of that entire process, said agency officials.
The bill would extend whistleblower protections to non-career employees in the Senior Executive Service, Public Health Service employees, and the commissioned officer corps at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Merit Systems Protection Board has been without Senate-confirmed leadership since March 2019 and without a quorum to decide appeals since January 2017.
Appeals have been stalled at the Merit Systems Protection Board for more than four years, and leaders on the Government Operations subcommittee in the House want the White House to get moving on board nominations.
Democrats in Congress are considering legislation on multiple workforce fronts, including the issue of limiting the president's authority to remake the civil service via executive order.
Federal employee unions and associations are hoping for concrete day-one rollbacks of Trump administration workforce policies on diversity training, official time, collective bargaining and the new 'Schedule F' classification.
The Trump impeachment and trial put whistleblowers in the public eye, but behind the headlines, officials say, agency whistleblowers are subject to reprisal.
The Merit System Protection Board is getting closer to having a quorum of confirmed officials in place to begin chipping away at its backlog of more than 2,000 appeals.
To address its massive and growing backlog, the panel that reviews federal workplace complaints is asking to "bypass" the White House's budget request.
After going nearly all of 2017 without a quorum, the Merit Systems Protection Board will likely not be able to address its growing backlog of nearly 1,600 cases in 2018.