Merit Systems Protection Board and Office of Special Counsel

GAO is required by legislation to prepare and submit an annual report to the President and to Congress on the activities of the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Special Counsel. The Board and the Special Counsel were established in 1979 to perform functions previously performed by the Civil Service Commission, as well as the following new functions: (1) conducting systematic reviews and analyses of the federal merit systems; (2) reviewing rules and regulations issued by the Office of Personnel Management; and (3) protecting federal employees against whistleblowing reprisals for disclosing violations. Additional funds of $2,268,000 have been requested for 1979 in order to increase the present professional staff of seven attorneys and six investigators. Approximately 80 percent of the complaints are from outside the Washington, D.C., area, and field operations have yet to be established. With present resources, the Special Counsel estimates that it can process only about 10 percent of the complaints received. There is also a large backlog of approximately 3,800 cases being carried over from the former Federal Employee Appeals Authority and Appeals Review Boards. There is a 120-day timeframe for processing all appeals.