Merit Systems Protection Board

  • Certain recruiting and hiring authorities within agencies "threaten the principle of fair and open competition," according to the latest report from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Former DHS CHCO Jeff Neal offers his take.

    January 12, 2015
  • In a new report, the Merit Systems Protection Board says federal hiring managers are having trouble balancing rules meant to help veterans and other select groups benefit veterans and other select or other groups for hiring managers who are supposed to hold fair and open competitions for jobs.

    January 07, 2015
  • The Merit System Protection Board agrees that GSA's conference scandal was, indeed, scandalous. But at least two of the senior officials GSA fired in response didn't have much to do with the whole affair.

    December 29, 2014
  • A ruling could have a major impact on the pay, pensions. bonuses and job security of Uncle Sam's 6,000 top career executives, says Senior Correspondent Mike Causey.

    December 22, 2014
  • The Merit Systems Protection Board has affirmed the Veterans Affairs Department's decision to ax James Talton, one of the first senior executives targeted under a new law that speeds up the removal process. Talton headed the Central Alabama Veterans Administration Healthcare System.

    November 20, 2014
  • In a report released just before Veterans Day, the Merit Systems Protection Board outlined some of the complications in two key veterans workforce laws. Sharon Roth, MSPB senior research analyst, said managers need to better understand veterans' rights when hiring.

    November 10, 2014
  • Just in time for Veterans Day, the Merit Systems Protection Board has issued fresh guidance for federal managers on the topic of veterans hiring preferences. Two laws underpin the myriad of veterans preference regulations. Sharon Roth, a senior research analyst at the Merit Systems Protection Board, was the project manager of the report. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to explain the new guidance.

    November 10, 2014
  • Sloan Gibson, VA's deputy secretary, said he's proposed the removal of Susan Taylor, the deputy chief procurement officer at the Veterans Health Administration. Gibson will use the new authorities provided by Congress and President Barack Obama in August under the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014.

    October 06, 2014
  • A new law signed by the President last month gives the Veterans Affairs secretary lots of discretion to fire or demote members of the Senior Executive Service. The law came in response to management problems resulting in long wait times for admittance to VA facilities. The law means SESers at VA work under a different set of civil service rules than those in the rest of government. It also imposes new burdens on the Merit Systems Protection Board. The board issued an interim final rule on how the agency will carry out the new mandate. Chairwoman Susan Tsui Grundmann joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the comments the board received about the rule and what the law does require of the board.

    October 06, 2014
  • Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project told a House subcommittee Tuesday that some agencies are circumventing the protections provided by the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.

    September 09, 2014
  • A new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board says that it's time for Congress to simplify the overly complex veterans preference laws to make sure they're doing what Congress put them in place to do.

    August 28, 2014
  • Despite a series of efforts to expand the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender federal workers by the Obama administration, LGBT feds, who comprise about 3 percent of the federal workforce, are less satisfied, feel less empowered on the job and are less likely to rate their agency's senior leaders and management as highly as their non-LGBT counterparts, according to a recent survey.

    July 06, 2014
  • Thanks to Congressional budget cutters and the White House sequestration program, two of the most important federal operations - the IRS and the Social Security Administration - are getting smaller and slower. So, how much longer can we afford these 'savings', Senior Correspondent Mike Causey asks?

    June 23, 2014
  • Legislation in the Senate would allow the Veterans Affairs secretary to dismiss members of the Senior Executive Service on the grounds of performance, and that could mean more appeal cases for the already-swamped Merit Systems Protection Board.

    June 19, 2014