In October, a Senate Panel vetted two of President Obama’s nominees for the Merit Systems Protection Board.  The nominees are Susan Tsui Grundmann  (nominated as chair of the MSPB) and Anne Marie Wagner (nominated to be her vice chairman).   The panel was chaired by Senatory Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), who has in the past introduced legislation for reform of the Federal Whistleblower Protection Act.

In his opening statement, chairman Akaka  focused on what he hopes becomes one of the top priorities for the MSPB.

“One of the most important responsibilities of the [Merit Systems Protection Board]  is to adjudicate claims brought by Federal employee whistleblowers. For almost a decade, I have worked to reform the process for protecting Federal whistleblowers. As the sponsor of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009 (S.372), I believe that one of the key tenets of the Federal merit systems is the ability of Federal employees to report waste, fraud, and abuse without fear of retaliation. For too long, Federal whistleblowers have not received the protection they need. Since the year 2000, the [Merit Systems Protection Board] has repeatedly misapplied Congressional intent with respect to whistleblower protection. I am hopeful that with new statutory protections – and additional [Merit Systems Protection Board] members who understand the important role of whistleblower protections – Federal employees will feel confident again that they can report waste, fraud, abuse, or illegal activity, without risking their professional and financial futures.”

Since 2002, Ms. Grundmann has served as General Counsel to the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union which represents approximately 100,000 Federal employees throughout the U.S. Prior to that, she served as General Counsel to the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers.

Ms. Wagner currently serves as the General Counsel to the Personnel Appeals Board, which decides personnel disputes within the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Before joining GAO, Ms. Wagner worked for 20 years as Assistant General Counsel to the American Federation of Government Employee.

No post on this website is legal advice, is meant to be legal advice, and certainly does not serve as a substitute for legal advice. Information is power, and we are providing this information to give you, the federal employee, with some power. This information is not widely or easily accessible to Federal Employees.

If you are a Federal Employee with questions for a lawyer about your appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and/or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and would like to discuss legal representation with an attorney before the MSPB or EEOC, contact the Attig Law Firm, PLLC.