Website Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the U.S Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) online and 

reviewing our website privacy policy. Our website privacy policy explains how we 

handle visits to our websites and the personally identifiable information (PII) that you 

provide when you visit us online to browse, obtain information, or conduct a transaction.

PII is information that personally identifies you, like your name, email address, or other 

data that can be reasonably linked to such information. 

MSPB will not collect personal information (your name, email address, your mailing 

address, your telephone number) when you visit our sites unless you choose to provide 

that information. Even then, the personal information that you provide on an MSPB

website will be used only for the purpose for which you provided it, as MSPB does not 

track or record information about individuals and their visits. 

MSPB will revise or update our website privacy policy if our practices change. Please 

refer back to this page for the latest information and the effective date(s). 

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

If you browse through MSPB’s websites, read pages, or download information, our 

system logs the following information about your visit: 

• Internet domain and Internet Protocol address;

• Date and time you access our site;

• Content downloaded;

• Pages you visit; and

• Geo-location from which the MSPB website is being accessed.

MSPB collects and uses this information, which does not identify you personally, to 

make MSPB’s websites more useful to visitors, i.e., to learn about the number of visitors, 

content most sought by visitors, and the types of technology used to access the website. 

We store this information on our web servers until there is no longer a business need to 

retain it.

MSPB participates in the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Digital Analytics 

Program (DAP) as required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

Memorandum M-17-06, “Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites and Digital 

Services.” For more information on GSA’s DAP, please visit https://digital.gov/dap/. 

As part of GSA’s DAP, MSPB uses Google Universal Analytics web measurement and 

customization technologies in accordance with OMB Memorandum M-10-22, “Guidance 

for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies,” to collect the 

statistical information indicated above. The information is automatically sent to the 

Google Universal Analytics system, and the system immediately aggregates the data. 

Neither MSPB nor Google have access to the specifics of any particular site that you 
visit. Only the aggregate data from all users for a particular time period can be viewed. 

MSPB may use the aggregated data to help improve the visitor experience on MSPB 

websites. In some cases, MSPB may share the information with other Federal agencies 

as required in response to law enforcement requests. Google allows users to opt-out of 

Google Universal Analytics through a browser extension for many major browsers. For 

additional information on Google Analytics, please refer to the following policies on 

Google’s website:

• Google’s Privacy Policy

• Google Analytics Cookies Usage on Websites

• Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on

In addition to Google Analytics, once we collect your IP address and the time stamp for 

each of your web page visits, we process and aggregate that information using the thirdparty application on MSPB’s information systems. This information is used to improve 

MSPB’s websites and customer experience. No data is transmitted to third-party services 

in this process.

If You Send Us Personal Information

You may provide PII when you send us an email message or a request for information, or 

when you utilize our e-Appeal Online or Extranet sites. Other than the information 

required to log in to access the e-Appeal system or Extranet site, we do not require you to 

register or provide PII to visit our websites. The PII you provide to MSPB on our 

websites will be used only for the purpose for which you provided it.

The following sections explain how we handle and collect PII when you visit MSPB 

online.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

If you choose to send us PII, it will be used only for purposes of the collection. 

Submitting PII through our websites is voluntary. If MSPB stores your personal 

information in a system of records designed to retrieve information about you using a 

personal identifier(s) so that we may contact you, MSPB will safeguard the information 

that you provide to us in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974.

Email Communications

Through the MSPB website, you are able to send us email messages and request technical 

support. We will use the information you provide – such as your name, docket number, 

and/or email address – to respond to your inquiry. We will only send you general 

information via email. Please be aware that email may not necessarily be secure against 

interception. MSPB recommends that you not send sensitive personal information (SPII)

(e.g., financial information; social security number, etc.) to us via email. Rather, 

submission of data through more secured means, such as by U.S. mail with the ability to 
track the information, is recommended. However, it is recommended that you not submit 

SPII to MSPB at all unless it is necessary and required as part of your interactions with 

MSPB.

Electronic mail messages that meet the definition of records in the Federal Records Act

(44 U.S.C. § 3101) are covered under the same disposition schedule as all other Federal 

records. This means that emails you send us will be preserved and maintained for 

varying periods of time if those emails meet the definition of Federal records. Electronic 

messages that are not records are deleted when no longer needed for business purposes.

e-Appeal Online

e-Appeal Online is MSPB’s electronic filing system that allows appellants to file an 

initial appeal and/or parties to file and receive documents in electronic form. See

5 C.F.R. § 1201.14. MSPB’s e-Appeal site requires e-filers to provide PII if they choose 

to participate in electronic filing services. For additional information on MSPB’s website 

privacy policy for e-Appeal, please visit https://e-appeal.mspb.gov/. You may also 

access MSPB’s System of Records Notice for Appeals and Case Records, which governs 

use of such records and information through e-Appeal in accordance with the Privacy 

Act. 

Extranet

MSPB’s Extranet site provides authorized Executive branch agencies and legal publishers 

with access to MSPB decisions and documents in batch form. The Extranet site requires 

authorized individuals to provide PII to receive a user account and have access to the site. 

Third-Party Applications

MSPB uses Twitter to share information about the agency and the status of our website 

and e-Appeal system. MSPB does not use third-party websites to solicit and collect PII 

from individuals. Any PII collected by the third-party website will not be transmitted to 

or stored by MSPB.

Cookies

What is a Cookie? Whenever you visit a website, the website can send a small piece of 

information called a cookie along with the information that you requested. The main 

purpose of a cookie is to identify and customize web pages for you. There are two kinds 

of cookies:

1. Session cookie — A line of text that is stored temporarily in your computer's 

memory. A session cookie is never written to a drive, and it is destroyed as soon 

as you close your browser.
2. Persistent cookie — A line of text saved to a file on your hard drive that is called 

up the next time you visit that website. This lets the website remember what you 

were interested in the last time you visited.

MSPB’s websites creates both session cookies and persistent cookies when you visit

them. Because session and persistent cookies are maintained on your own computer’s 

hard drive, MSPB does not collect or maintain any session or persistent cookies related to 

a specific individual’s visit to our website.

Website Privacy Policy Contact Information

If you have questions regarding our website privacy policy or the use of your 

information, you may contact us at privacy@mspb.gov. This page was last revised on

June 14, 2019. For additional information on MSPB’s Privacy Program, please refer to 

our Privacy Program Page.