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Today at a Glance

• MSPB Caseload: The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) received 20,335 initial appeals in fiscal year (FY) 2025 — about four times its normal workload — and only 55.8% of the cases its regional and field offices processed in FY 2025 closed within the Board's 120-day case-completion goal.

• Interior Hiring: Interior Department seasonal hiring sits at roughly 4,200 employees, about 14% below the same point in 2024, heading into wildfire and visitor season. National Park Service permanent staffing is down approximately 22% since January 2025.

• Benefits Bills: Four pending bills affecting federal employees are moving through Congress, addressing short-term disability insurance, shutdown-era credit protection, military-retiree pension continuity during funding lapses, and a toxic-exposure presumption for civilian employees who served overseas.

Top Stories:

1. MSPB Reports Record 20,335 Appeals in FY 2025 — Less Than 56% of Regional Cases Closed Within the Board's 120-Day Goal

Source: FedSmith, May 14, 2026

TL;DR: According to the MSPB's Annual Performance Report for FY 2025, published April 3, 2026, the Board received 20,335 initial appeals in FY 2025 — roughly four times its normal annual volume. The surge began in February 2025 and was driven primarily by probationary terminations and reduction-in-force (RIF) appeals. Of the 9,050 cases the Board's regional and field offices processed in FY 2025, only 55.8% closed within MSPB's 120-day case-completion goal. The remaining cases — nearly half — took longer than four months to reach an initial administrative-judge decision. The 120-day figure is the Board's internal performance target, not a statutory deadline, so the practical effect is that the appeal system many federal employees rely on for adverse-action review is now operating on a substantially extended regional timeline, with petitions for review (PFR) at the headquarters Board adding further time on top of that.

For federal employees, this means:

• Appeals to MSPB at the regional level will likely take longer than they historically have. Plan for an initial decision four months or more after filing in many cases, with any PFR before the headquarters Board adding more time on top of that.

• Employees facing an adverse action covered by both MSPB and a collective bargaining agreement should weigh the regional MSPB backlog when making the election of remedies under 5 U.S.C. § 7121(e)(1) — once a forum is chosen, the choice is generally final.

• The longer cases stay open, the more important interim-earnings records, mitigation evidence, and contemporaneous documentation become, because they directly affect the back-pay relief available if the employee prevails.

Legal Insight:

Under 5 U.S.C. § 7701(a), the Board is required to provide an opportunity for a hearing and a written decision on the merits, but the statute does not impose a 120-day deadline on initial decisions — that target comes from the Board's own Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan. Statutory filing windows for employees, however, are unchanged: under 5 C.F.R. § 1201.22, most appeals must be filed within 30 days of the effective date of the action or the date the appellant received the agency's decision, whichever is later. Mixed-case complaints involving discrimination are governed by 5 U.S.C. § 7702 and 29 C.F.R. § 1614.302. The Back Pay Act, 5 U.S.C. § 5596, conditions full back-pay relief on the employee's mitigation efforts during the pendency of the appeal. Given the longer regional timeline, federal employees facing removal, RIF, suspension, or demotion should consult a federal employment attorney early — before filing — to preserve interim earnings records, settlement leverage, and any forum-choice rights they may not be able to recover later.

2. Interior Department Seasonal Hiring at Roughly 4,200 — About 14% Below 2024 Pace Heading into Fire and Visitor Season

Source: Government Executive, May 14, 2026

TL;DR: According to internal Interior Department figures reviewed by Government Executive, Interior had approximately 4,200 seasonal employees on board as of early April 2026 — about a 1% decline from the same point in 2025 and roughly 14% below the same point in 2024. The National Park Service (NPS), which Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said last year would hire 7,700 seasonal staff to offset cuts to its permanent workforce, peaked at about 5,150 seasonal hires in 2025 — roughly one-third short of the announced target. Interior has shed about 11,000 permanent employees (approximately 17% of the workforce) since January 2025, and NPS alone has lost about 4,000 permanent employees (about 22%). Current and former Interior employees told Government Executive that Interior's human-resources staff is down approximately 18%, which has slowed the agency's ability to move seasonal hires through onboarding before the wildfire and peak-visitor season.

For federal employees, this means:

• Permanent Interior and NPS employees should expect continued workload pressure as remaining staff absorb duties previously covered by seasonals, including visitor safety, search-and-rescue, law enforcement at park sites, and wildfire response.

• Employees performing work materially outside their position description should document the new duties, hours, and any safety concerns contemporaneously. A material change in actual duties can support a classification appeal under 5 C.F.R. § 511.601 if the position has effectively been re-graded by assignment rather than by formal action.

• FLSA-covered (Fair Labor Standards Act) federal employees regularly working beyond 40 hours per week should track exact hours and assignments; overtime entitlement turns on actual hours worked, not on whether the agency authorized them in advance.

Legal Insight:
Under 5 U.S.C. § 5542, employees covered by Title 5 overtime are entitled to overtime pay for hours of work officially ordered or approved in excess of 40 in a workweek; FLSA-covered federal employees have parallel rights under 29 U.S.C. § 207 as applied to the federal sector by 5 C.F.R. Part 551. Under 5 C.F.R. § 511.601, an employee may file a classification appeal when the duties actually performed differ materially from the official position description. Agency staffing shortfalls do not relieve the agency of these obligations — but the burden of producing contemporaneous evidence falls on the employee. Federal employees experiencing material role changes, sustained mandatory overtime, or safety conditions inconsistent with the position description should preserve emails, timesheets, and assignment communications, and consult a federal employment attorney before agency deadlines or grievance windows close.

3. Four Federal Employee Benefits Bills to Watch — Short-Term Disability, Shutdown Credit Protection, Military Retiree Pay Continuity, and a Toxic-Exposure Presumption

Source: Federal News Network, May 16, 2026

TL;DR: Federal News Network reports that four bills addressing federal-employee and retiree benefits are at the early-consideration stage in Congress. First, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) reintroduced the Federal Employee Short-Term Disability Insurance Act as H.R. 8731 — the eighth introduction of the measure since 2011 — which would direct the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to contract with carriers to offer optional short-term disability coverage funded entirely by employee premiums, covering non-work-related injury, illness, pregnancy, and family-care events. Second, Sen. Mark Kelly's (D-Ariz.) Federal Worker Credit Protection Act of 2026 would bar consumer reporting agencies from reporting adverse information against federal workers during a shutdown and for 30 days after. Third, a bipartisan bill from Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), and Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), titled the Pensions for Retired Uniformed Servicemembers Act, would authorize Defense Military Retirement Fund payments to keep certain retired-servicemember pensions flowing during future funding lapses. Fourth, a measure building on the PACT Act (Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022) would create a presumption of toxic exposure for civilian employees who were exposed to burn pits or similar hazards while serving overseas, easing the causation burden in civilian benefit claims.

For federal employees, this means:

• None of these bills is law yet. Stewards, union representatives, and benefits managers should track them but should not advise employees to rely on protections that do not yet exist.

• Civilian employees with any history of overseas service involving burn pits or similar exposures should preserve assignment records, medical documentation, and any incident or exposure reports now. Establishing the fact of exposure is the threshold step under any future statutory presumption.

• Federal employees whose credit was damaged by missed payments during the 43-day government shutdown that ended in 2025 or the 76-day Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown that ended April 30, 2026 should retain pay-history records, dispute correspondence, and creditor notices, in case the Federal Worker Credit Protection Act passes with a retroactive correction mechanism.

Legal Insight:
Federal civilian short-term disability remains a coverage gap. The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq., covers only work-related injury and illness, and sick leave under 5 U.S.C. § 6307 accrues at standard statutory rates that frequently fall short of a meaningful income-replacement window for non-work-related disability. Civilian toxic-exposure claims today proceed under FECA's general work-related-injury framework, which requires the claimant to establish causation by a preponderance of the evidence; a statutory presumption modeled on the veteran-side PACT Act would shift that burden once exposure and a covered condition are established. Until Congress enacts these measures, existing statutory frameworks govern — and existing filing deadlines apply.

Legal Tip of the Day

If You Feel Pressured to Resign

Pressure to resign can come in subtle ways—suggestions that it’s the “best option” or that things may get worse otherwise. Pause before making any decision. Resignation can limit future options, including appeal rights. Ask for time to consider and gather information.

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