Title: Public Service Reform Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Public Service Reform Act
This bill establishes all employees of the executive branch as at-will employees who may be subject to any adverse personnel action with or without cause and without the right to appeal such actions. The bill also establishes specialized removal procedures for career employees (i.e., nonpolitical employees), abolishes the Merit Systems Protection Board, and provides certain allowances for whistleblowers and appeals to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8550 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8550

   To provide that all Federal employees in the executive branch of 
       Government are at-will employees, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2022

 Mr. Roy (for himself, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Good of 
 Virginia, and Mrs. Boebert) introduced the following bill; which was 
           referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide that all Federal employees in the executive branch of 
       Government are at-will employees, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Service Reform Act''.

SEC. 2. AT-WILL EMPLOYMENT FOR FEDERAL EXECUTIVE BRANCH EMPLOYEES.

    (a) At-Will Employment.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, rule, or regulation, and except as provided in paragraph 
        (2), any employee in the executive branch of Government shall 
        be considered at-will, and--
                    (A) may be subject to any adverse personnel action 
                (up to and including removal) for good cause, bad 
                cause, or no cause at all; and
                    (B) may not challenge or otherwise appeal such an 
                action except as provided in subsection (b).
            (2) Limitation.--
                    (A) In general.--An employee may not be subject to 
                any adverse personnel action under this Act for any 
                reason prohibited section 2302(b) of title 5, United 
                States Code.
                    (B) Procedures.--The President shall establish 
                procedures to enforce compliance with paragraph (1), 
                including providing for disciplinary measures against 
                any employee who violates such paragraph. Nothing in 
                this subparagraph shall be construed to grant an 
                employee the right to review or appeal an adverse 
                personnel action outside such procedures.
    (b) Removal of Career Employees.--With respect to the removal of a 
career employee, the following procedures shall apply:
            (1) Before an agency removes the employee, the agency 
        official authorized to propose such action (in this subsection 
        referred to as the ``proposing official'') shall provide the 
        employee with written notification of the proposed removal and 
        the reasons therefore. The employee shall have 14 days to 
        provide a written response, except that the agency head or 
        designee shall have sole and exclusive discretion to alter the 
        response period on a case-by-case basis.
            (2) Under procedures prescribed by the agency head, in the 
        head's sole and exclusive discretion, an agency official other 
        than the proposing official (in this subsection referred to as 
        the ``deciding official'') shall decide whether to remove or 
        retain such career employee. The deciding official shall review 
        the proposed removal and employee response under paragraph (1), 
        and may, in their sole and exclusive discretion, conduct a 
        hearing on the matter. After such review or hearing (as the 
        case may be), the deciding official shall determine whether the 
        employee shall be removed.
            (3) The deciding official's determination under paragraph 
        (2) shall be the agency's final decision unless, within the 7-
        day period following such determination, the agency head or 
        designee reverses the decision, in which case the agency head's 
        or designee's decision shall be the final agency decision.
            (4) An agency's final decision under paragraph (3) shall be 
        final and not subject to any appeal or challenge, unless the 
        President overrules the agency's final decision.
    (c) Application.--Chapter 43 of title 5, United States Code, shall 
not apply to any personnel action taken with respect to an employee 
under this Act.
    (d) Abolishment of MSPB.--On the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Merit Systems Protection Board is hereby abolished. The Chairman of the 
Board may take such actions as are necessary to dispose of the assets, 
obligations, and liabilities of the Board.
    (e) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Repeal.--The following provisions of title 5, United 
        States Code, are hereby repealed:
                    (A) Subchapter I of chapter 12.
                    (B) Section 1212(c).
                    (C) Subsections (b)(1), (b)(2)(B) through (D), 
                (b)(3), (b)(4), (c), (g), and (i) of section 1214.
                    (D) Sections 1215 and 1221.
                    (E) Section 4303.
                    (F) Chapter 75.
                    (G) Chapter 77.
            (2) Other amendments.--Chapter 71 of title 5, United States 
        Code, is amended--
                    (A) in section 7103(a)(14), by redesignating 
                subparagraphs (B) and (C) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), 
                respectively, and by inserting after subparagraph (A) 
                the following:
                    ``(B) relating to adverse personnel actions, as 
                provided by the Public Service Reform Act;''; and
                    (B) in section 7121(c), by amending paragraph (3) 
                to read as follows:
            ``(3) any adverse personnel action under the Public Service 
        Reform Act;''.
    (f) Whistleblower Protections.--
            (1) In general.--Within the 14-day period described in 
        subsection (b)(1), the Office of Special Counsel may make a 
        recommendation to the agency head or deciding official on 
        whether an adverse personnel action taken against an individual 
        was in retaliation for making a whistleblowing disclosure.
            (2) Appeal.--An individual subject to an adverse personnel 
        action who claims such action was taken in retaliation 
        described in section 2302(b)(8) or (b)(9) of title 5, United 
        States Code, may appeal such action to the United States court 
        of appeals in the circuit in which the duty station of the 
        individual is located.
            (3) Decision.--
                    (A) If such court is finds that the individual's 
                appeal under paragraph (2) is in bad faith or 
                frivolous, the individual's annuity under chapter 83 or 
                84 of such title shall be reduced by 25 percent.
                    (B) If the individual prevails under an appeal 
                under paragraph (2), the individual shall--
                            (i) be placed, as nearly as possible, in 
                        the position the individual would have been in 
                        had the adverse personnel action not occurred; 
                        and
                            (ii) be reimbursed for attorney's fees, 
                        back pay, and related benefits, medical costs 
                        incurred, travel expenses, any other reasonable 
                        and foreseeable consequential damages, and 
                        compensatory damages (including interest, 
                        reasonable expert witness fees, and costs).
    (g) EEOC Appeals.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
including section 717 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an individual 
who is an employee or applicant to be an employee and who alleges that 
the individual was subject to an adverse personnel action that is a 
prohibited personnel action described in section 2302(b)(1) of title 5, 
United States Code, shall seek relief for such action from the Equal 
Employment Opportunity Commission as if such individual was an employee 
of an employer (as that term is defined in section 701 of such Act).
    (h) Definitions.--In this Act--
            (1) the term ``adverse personnel action'' means a removal, 
        a suspension for more than 14 days, a reduction in grade or a 
        reduction in pay, and a furlough of 30 days or less;
            (2) the term ``career employee'' means any employee who is 
        not a political employee;
            (3) the term ``employee'' has the meaning given that term 
        in section 2105 of title 5, United States Code, and includes--
                    (A) an officer or employee of the United States 
                Postal Service or the Postal Regulatory Commission; and
                    (B) notwithstanding subsection (b) of section 7425 
                of title 38, United States Code, any employee described 
                under subsection (a) of such section; and
            (4) the term ``political employee'' means any employee who 
        is--
                    (A) appointed by the President;
                    (B) a noncareer appointee (as that term is defined 
                in section 3132(a)(7) of title 5, United States Code) 
                in the Senior Executive Service;
                    (C) occupying a position under schedule C of 
                subpart C of part 213 of title 5, Code of Federal 
                Regulations; or
                    (D) in any other civil service (as that term is 
                defined in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code) 
                position classified as a political position after the 
                date of enactment of this Act under regulations as the 
                Director of the Office of Personnel Management may 
                prescribe.
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