Federal Managers Association

In the News

• MSPB Ends Decades-Old Standards for Appeals on Misconduct Charges - September 4, 2026

• FEDweek

  The MSPB has finalized rules ending standards it has used since the early 1980s to weigh the appropriateness of a penalty—often firing—in appeals by federal employees of disciplinary actions for alleged misconduct.

  A September 3 Federal Register notice says the “Douglas Factors”—a dozen considerations that may argue for or against the penalty the agency chose—had resulted in a “rigid and mechanistic” process of weighing whether the agency properly considered each.

  “The perceived obligation to address twelve enumerated factors in every case has imposed recurring process costs on agencies, appellants, and the Board: standardized worksheets treated as legally compulsory; penalty appeals litigated as audits of whether each factor was recited and adequately weighted; and a checklist-centered practice that increasingly overshadows the statutory question — whether the agency’s chosen penalty reasonably promotes the efficiency of the service,” it says.

  To read the full article, click here.

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