The discretionary hearing process, set forth in Board Rules 8-46 through 8-52, is the Board procedure an employee must use to appeal a final agency grievance decision to the Board.  The discretionary hearing process generally takes 90 days and begins with the filing by the employee of a petition  for a hearing with the Board.  A copy of the petition filed with the Board must be provided to the agency. 

Fifteen days after the employee has filed the petition with the Board, the parties must provide each other with copies of all the documents or information that, in the case of Respondent, it relied upon in making the final agency decision on the employee's grievance and in the case of Complainant, he or she relied upon in making the decision to grieve a matter and to file a petition for hearing challenging the final agency action.

Upon receipt by the Board of the employee's petition for hearing, the Board typically issues a Notice of Preliminary Review that tells the parties the deadline and required contents for the filing of Information Sheets. In addition to filing an original of the Information Sheets with the Board, the parties must also file their Information Sheets with the Board electronically (either on a disk or CD-ROM). 

An administrative law judge will review the information sheets and issue a decision, to be reviewed by the Board, which is called a preliminary recommendation.  This decision makes a recommendation to the Board to either grant or deny the employee's request for a hearing.  Within 90 days of the Board receiving the petition, the Board, at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting, will consider the preliminary recommendation and decide whether to grant or deny the employee a hearing on the final agency decision on the employee's grievance.

To access forms (appeal/dispute form and instructions, whistleblower complaint form and grievance form), go to About the Board, then to Board Appeals/Petitions for Hearing, on the left side of this page.