§4135 Foreign Service Grievance Board

Summary

Creates a Foreign Service Grievance Board made up of at least five independent U.S. citizens who are not Department of State employees or members of the Service. The Secretary of State names the Chair and members from people approved in writing by the covered agencies and by any exclusive representative. Members serve two-year terms that can be renewed with the same written approvals. If a spot opens, the Secretary fills the rest of that term the same way. If the agencies and representative cannot agree on a nominee, each names two people and then take turns striking names at random until one name remains; that name counts as approved. Non-government members are paid each day they work at the daily rate equal to the top GS‑18 pay (per 5 U.S.C. 5332). The Secretary can remove a member for corruption, neglect, malfeasance, or proven inability to do the job, after a hearing unless the member gives up that right. The Board can use Department of State facilities and services. Its expenses, including required travel costs for people filing grievances, come from State Department funds. Department employees can be assigned as Board staff, and the Board may hire other staff within its budget; those staff report only to the Board and the Board prepares their performance reviews. The Board keeps its own confidential records separate from other State records. By March 1 each year the Board Chair must file a report on the prior year showing case numbers and types, final decisions and their outcomes (affirmed, reversed, settled, withdrawn, or dismissed), how many oral hearings and their lengths, how often interim relief was granted, and the average time from filing to decision. The report goes to the Director General of the Foreign Service and to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Committee on International Relations.