Duplicative Federal Merit Board Gets $55M Annually

The Senate recently voted to confirm new members of the Merit Systems Protection Board, an agency that could easily be consolidated within a myriad of other federal bureaucracies, but nonetheless receives about $55 million in funding each year, according to spending records compiled by OpenTheBooks.com.

According its website, the Merit Board is, “an independent, quasi-judicial agency in the Executive branch that serves as the guardian of Federal merit systems.”

Its job is to perform duties related to “employee appeals,” as well as, “perform merit systems studies and to review the significant actions of Office of Personnel Management.” It also helps inform federal employees of their rights through educational resources.

It was created in 1978 along with the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Labor Relations Authority. All three agencies used to be consolidated under the Civil Service Commission, but now are three separate entities.

The board’s page lists more of what it doesn’t do than what it does. It has a list of six common issues that are covered by other agencies. It seems all the merit board does is hear appeals from federal employees on specific matters, and conduct oversight on the Office of Personnel Management.

Both of those duties could easily and more efficiently be performed by existing agencies like the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Labor Relations Board.

Originally, the merit board was also supposed to include an office of special counsel to “investigate allegations of prohibited personnel practices, prosecute violators of civil service rules and regulations, and enforce the Hatch Act.” While this important job may have made the board an important standalone agency, with its departure, it could be consolidated.  

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