Merit Systems Protections Board Sees Surge in Appeals

The Merit Systems Protections Board (MSPB), the independent agency that serves as “the guardian of federal merit systems,” has seen a surge in employee appeals related to the Trump administration’s firing of thousands of federal workers.

As Fortune reported, the number of cases from federal employees appealing their dismissals has increased by as much as 2,100% in recent months, including claims where terminated workers allege they were subject to illegal discrimination or disputing charges of poor performance.

Five months ago, the MSPB typically received around 100 petitions every week, Fortune’s Sasha Rogelberg wrote, noting that the agency received more than 1,800 petitions during the week of Feb. 16 – 22. The MSPB netted 2,171 more claims the following week, 20 times its usual quota. The board received 1,503 petitions during the week of March 2 – 8.

The odds of the agency getting around to hearing all of these cases, however, are slim, Rogelberg wrote.

“The MSPB was non-functional during Trump’s first administration, as he did not appoint the key board member necessary for the body to achieve the quorum required to hear employee appeals,” she wrote, adding that the agency could not vote or review petitions from Jan. 7, 2017 to March 2, 2022.

“To put the current rush of petitions into perspective,” Rogelberg continued, “the cases already received by the MSPB exceed the backlog it accumulated during nearly five years it was non-functional.”

The agency is currently in operation. But, employees seeking to appeal their termination must act within 10 days or their dismissal in order to be eligible for back pay if their firing is found unjustified, Rogelberg noted, saying the “stop-start appeals process for both fired employees, as well as the federal government.”

Gregory McGillivary, a labor attorney representing federal workers in a class action suit alleging privacy violations, told Fortune that the government is responsible for paying the accrued interest on any back pay it owes. He also noted, however, that fired federal workers may not have access to back pay for years.

“It’s really a tragedy for the federal employees,” McGillivary said, “because people don’t have any sort of swift justice for illegal firings.”