For anyone who’s keeping count, the total number of appeals filed with the Merit Systems Protection Board for fiscal 2013 (as of close of business yesterday) stood at 34,210, or close to five times the agency’s normal yearly caseload. Of those, around 29,000 (or 85 percent), are furlough-related, Board Clerk Bill Spencer said in an email.
Volume of MSPB furlough appeals still soaring
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Anyone filing an appeal due to the sequestration-forced furloughs ought to be ashamed of themselves. The resulting workload will now make preclude timely review and resolution of far more meritorious appeals cases.
The furloughs were the result of a completely dysfunctional congress as well as a totally intransigent administration.
Take your appeal on this to the voting booth and not to the MSPB.
The furloughs were illegal based on the fact that most agencies (Navy included) had the funds to pay there civilian employees. The VCNO said this clearly prior to furlough and that is a sound basis to appeal. Unfortunately with the potential of furlough in FY14 more DoD employees should have filed.
That is the problem. It is one thing to be grateful to have a job, a place to live and food on table. It is another to let the one percent in the House, Senate and the Whitehouse to cut middle class and working folks salaries.
While at the sametime they are going around the world handing out US Taxpayers monies, funding multiple wars, giving money to terrorists and call them rebels.
I as a US Taxpayer r…believe if you have money to give to tyrants, hoarders of terrorists and foreign aid for dubious reasons, aid for free trade, money to banks, and bailouts for Foreign Banks, Wallstreet, Apple, Exxon, the iMF and World Bank and failed Green Energy Companies.
You have money to pay government workers. The MSPB is is there to handle complaints. Whose to say that one grievance has more leeway to all grievances?
They as well as all government and contract workers are there to do their jobs. Now, they have more than enough work to do since more than 16,000 claims have been filed. Apparently, close to 20,000 government workers decided to take a stand and say support American Workers. They decided to let the political parties know that government workers do have voice and are Americans and will not be trampled on.
Nonsense. There were procedural errors in many cases, and clear cases of agencies failing to follow their own rules.
The furloughs were a blatant and cynical ploy by Obama and Hagel to attempt to use hard working federal employees as pawns in a larger political fight. They deserved to get called on it. And we federal employees deserve to have our merit system rights upheld.
Here here to the Civil Servants who found their voices to speak up through the appeals process on furloughs! Union leadership is not cohesively organized against the appeal process and will step forward until people’s civil rights are denied through due process of the law. Until the unions take a unified position on sequester as to how the labor should respond the decision makers will continue to treat us as fodder in the political wrangling of making themselves look like they matter!
Again, unless you are in fact the only person in your agency who is being furloughed, then filing a claim is just wasting time and energy that could be spent on legitimate MSPB claims. Being furloughed is not a legitimate claims.
The real issue reflected is our Government; including DoD birds and stars, lack of appreciation for the employees. We are no longer valuable assets but have become expensive liabilities. If the bean counters can bend the rules and furlough thousands of hard working veterans illegally without consequence — all the better for the bottom line. If these actions result in actual expenses (MSPB appeals), then re-thinking the actions are mandated. Especially if the appeals result in back pay for all the days off.
The real cost/threat to the agency and employees will be FY14; should this precedent become policy. Then we will see dire consequences — lack of mission capability, increase in sucides and “Postal” events.
Responding to “dcoy”,
I think the senior DoD leaders, uniformed and civilian alike have done their utmost to mitigate the effects of sequestration. I certainly do not share your opinion that they do not value civilian employees. I think it’s quite the contrary.
If this were the case, they would have done this long ago regardless of budget concerns. The fact is that sequestration itself and the resulting furloughs cost far more than it saved–this was pointed out by DoD leadership! This doesn’t even need to include the cost of appeals. We already knew this.
The fault lies with an intransigent administration and a completely dysfunctional congress, period.
Ashamed of filing an appeal??!! Far from it! who should be ashamed should be the other 95% who DID NOT file an appeal. This whole act was illegal, the courts will bear that out. and if you think ’13 was bad? the fact almost noone put up any real resistance to this year furloughs is only encouragement and justification to make it an institutionalized “solution” for DoD.
Man up, make the program cuts that need to be made, and fix our budget!
Oh, and if congress could pass a budget on time would be helpful. only 4 times in 50 years have they been on time. Fire them all and start over. Unless you like having 20% of your paycheck disappear. The only thing worse than being robbed, is being robbed by someone you know!
Responding to “Furloughed Fed”,
“This whole act was illegal?” Really? Please tell me which federal, state, county, or local statute was violated by the DoD when these furloughs were implemented? If you can identify any law that was violated, then those affected would have a sound basis for appeal.
These furloughs occured as a reult of a law enacted by congress and signed by the president–that law was the law that mandated these capricious and unwise budget cuts. Good grief! Furloughs resulted from a law, not in violation to one.
As I stated originally, take your appeal to the voting booth at the next election.
Grumpy:
You want to know the statute? 10 U.S.C. section 129 for those DOD employees paid through Working Capital Funds! Now that the House (and presumably the Senate) is taking steps to eliminate the furloughing of WCF employees, Hegel is vowing to RIF us in coming years. We have had no pay raises in the last three years, and then to take a NEGATIVE raise due to the furlough days!?! Even the 6 days have effectively cut our salaries more than 2% for the year.
Alex,
Lawyers had already reviewed the statute you cite, and others, and determined the implementation of the furlough to be legal. Like it or not, even if sufficient funds exist, management retains the right to place employees in a furlough status, period. The only criteria is that the application of such furloughs be done in a non-discrimantory manner (not based on non-germane criteria). Given the widespread nature of these furloughs, I’d have to say they applied the furlough consistent with all laws.
I think it’s a shame that it came to this and I too, was affected.
RIFs may be coming indeed, but I suspect attrition will negate the need for those. Ma9ybe that’s what they had in mind all along.