§4135 Foreign Service Grievance Board

Summary

Creates the Foreign Service Grievance Board to hear complaints. The Board must have at least 5 members. Members must be independent U.S. citizens, trusted and not Department employees or members of the Service. The Secretary of State appoints the chair and members from nominees who are approved in writing by the agencies covered and by each agency’s exclusive representative, if any. Each member serves a 2‑year term that can be renewed with the same written approvals. If a vacancy happens, the Secretary fills the rest of the term the same way. If the agencies and representative cannot agree on a nominee, each picks two names and, by taking turns striking names from the list until one remains, the last name is treated as approved by all. Members who are not government employees are paid the daily equivalent of the maximum rate for GS‑18 under section 5332 of title 5 for each day they work, including travel days. The Secretary of State may remove a member for corruption, neglect, malfeasance, or proven inability to do the job, after a hearing unless the member gives up the right to a hearing in writing. The Board can use State Department facilities, staff, and supplies and must have its expenses paid from Department funds, including necessary travel costs for people bringing grievances. The Board may have Department employees assigned to it and may hire other staff as money allows; those staff answer only to the Board and the Board keeps their performance records. The Board’s records must be kept separate and kept confidential. By March 1 each year, the Board chair must send a report about the previous year to the Director General of the Foreign Service and to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on International Relations. The report must include numbers and types of cases, final decisions and how they ended (affirmed, reversed, settled, withdrawn, or dismissed), how many oral hearings and how long they were, how often interim relief was granted, and the average time from filing to decision.