The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the panel created to adjudicate federal employee appeals to firings and other disciplinary actions against feds, is facing an unprecedented spike in cases and still has no quorum to resolve cases.

The three-person board has only one board member, after President Trump fired Cathy Harris – whose term was supposed to run through March 2028 – and Raymond Limon’s retirement. That leaves Henry Kerner the lone Senate-confirmed board member. The agency’s administrative judges can hear cases and issue initial decisions, however the board cannot finalize any cases without a quorum. The body did not have a quorum from 2017 to 2022, resulting in a backlog of nearly 3,800 cases.

MSPB recently reported it has received nearly 12,000 appeals in Fiscal Year 2025. The agency received less than half that amount of appeals in Fiscal Year 2024.

The restoration of a quorum is a step closer to reality. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced James Woodruff II, Trump’s nominee to the MSPB, on June 30 by a vote of 8-4.

In other MSPB-related news, a $350 filing fee for feds to appeal a case to the board – which FMA opposed – was not included in the final version of the One Big Beautiful Act, as originally drafted.