The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is an independent quasi-judicial agency established in 1979 to protect federal merit systems against partisan, political and other prohibited personnel practices and to ensure adequate protection for federal employees against abuses by agency management.
When an employee of most executive branch agencies is separated from their position or suspended for more than 14 days, they can request that MSPB conduct a hearing into the matter by submitting an appeal, generally within 30 days. In that hearing, the agency will have to prove that the action was warranted and the employee may present evidence that it was not. An MSPB decision is binding unless set aside on appeal to federal court. Along with the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the MSPB is a successor agency of the United States Civil Service Commission.
