On June 27, 2025, Gilbert Employment Law, P.C. filed a class appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) on behalf of all U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees subject to separation from the federal service by Reduction-in-Force (RIF) since April 1, 2025. On July 14, 2025, HHS proceeded with separating thousands of HHS employees pursuant to the RIF. On July 17, 2025, the MSPB denied our request for class certification. This means that HHS employees separated pursuant to the RIF must now file an individual appeal with the MSPB if they wish to challenge their separation. 

If you are an HHS employee separated on July 14, 2025 pursuant to the RIF, we strongly recommend that you file your individual MSPB appeal within 30 days of your separation—i.e. by August 13, 2025. However, the MSPB’s July 17, 2025, Order Denying Class Certification provides that HHS employees who were covered by the class may file their individual appeals within 35 days of the Order—i.e. by August 21, 2025. While GEL encourages all HHS employees to file their appeals within the standard 30 days required under federal regulations, if an HHS employee is unable to meet that deadline, they may file their appeal no later than August 21, 2025. 

If you wish to file an individual appeal on your own, you can do so by creating an electronic filing account with the MSPB here: https://e-appeal.mspb.gov/etk-mspb-appeals-prod/login.request.do.  Once you have created an account, click the “New Appeal” button and follow the steps.