Personnel Appeals Board; Procedural Rules

The Government Accountability Office Personnel Appeals Board (PAB or Board) proposes to give the PAB General Counsel authority to process certain retaliation claims that have not first undergone GAO's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) process, and to hold certain nondiscrimination claims in abeyance if they are related to a claim pending in GAO's EEO process. These proposed changes are in response to an internal query that brought up the need to clarify perceived ambiguities in the existing regulations. The PAB also proposes to update the definition of prohibited discrimination to be consistent with changes in nondiscrimination laws. In addition, the PAB proposes to replace gendered pronouns with gender-neutral ones to reflect current usage practices. The General Accounting Office Personnel Act of 1980 provides authority to make these changes.