In the United States government, independent agencies are agencies that exist outside the federal executive departments and the Executive Office of the President. In a narrower sense, the term refers only to those independent agencies that, while considered part of the executive branch, have regulatory or rulemaking authority and are insulated from presidential control, usually because the president's power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, the NLRB has the authority to supervise elections for labor union representation and to investigate and remedy unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of protected concerted activity.
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) was a United States trade union that operated from 1968 until its decertification in 1981 following an illegal strike broken by the Reagan administration; in striking, the union violated 5 U.S.C. (Supp. III 1956) 118p (now 5 U.S.C. § 7311), which prohibits strikes by federal government employees.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), an independent United States federal agency, is charged with the mission to promote the preservation of the nation's diverse historic resources. The ACHP advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy and also provides a public forum for stakeholders and the public to influence federal agency decisions regarding federal projects and programs that affect historic properties. The ACHP promotes the importance of historic preservation to foster an understanding of the nation's heritage and the contribution that historic preservation can make to contemporary communities, along with their economic and social well-being.
The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). OSC's primary mission is the safeguarding of the merit system in federal employment by protecting employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs), especially reprisal for "whistleblowing." The agency also operates a secure channel for federal whistleblower disclosures of violations of law, rule, or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; abuse of authority; and substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. In addition, OSC issues advice on the Hatch Act and enforces its restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees. Finally, OSC protects the civilian employment and reemployment rights of military service members under USERRA. OSC has around 140 staff, and the Special Counsel is an ex officio member of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an association of inspectors general charged with the regulation of good governance within the federal government.
The National Mediation Board (NMB) is an independent agency of the United States government that coordinates labor-management relations within the U.S. railroads and airlines industries.
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is an independent quasi-judicial agency established in 1979 to protect federal merit systems against partisan political and other prohibited personnel practices and to ensure adequate protection for federal employees against abuses by agency management.
The Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution empowers the President of the United States to nominate and, with the advice and consent (confirmation) of the United States Senate, appoint public officials. Although the Senate must confirm certain principal officers, Congress may by law invest the appointment of "inferior" officers to the President alone, or to courts of law or heads of departments.
Executive Schedule is the system of salaries given to the highest-ranked appointed officials in the executive branch of the U.S. government. The president of the United States appoints individuals to these positions, most with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. They include members of the president's Cabinet, several top-ranking officials of each executive department, the directors of some of the more prominent departmental and independent agencies, and several members of the Executive Office of the President.
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 is a United States federal statute establishing the procedure for filling vacancies in an appointed office of an executive agency of the government before the appointment of a permanent replacement.
Patrick Pizzella is a former American government official who served as the 36th United States Deputy Secretary of Labor from April 17, 2018 to January 20, 2021. He was formerly a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority appointed by President Barack Obama. He held positions in several agencies during four prior Administrations. In 2019, after the resignation of Alexander Acosta, Pizzella served as the acting United States Secretary of Labor for more than 2 months. He currently serves as the elected Mayor of the village of Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Colleen Duffy Kiko is an American attorney and government official who, until January 2021, served as Chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). Prior to assuming her current role, she was a Judge of the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board in the United States Department of Labor. Kiko worked in the predecessor agency to the FLRA and first joined the newly created agency in 1979 in order to investigate unfair labor practices. In 2005, she became general counsel of the FLRA. Kiko has also held various roles in the United States Department of Justice, served as an associate counsel to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, and engaged in the private practice of law.
James Thomas Abbott is an American attorney and government official who was a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) from 2017 to 2022. Before his service with the FLRA, Abbott served as Deputy General Counsel for the United States Congress Office of Compliance from 2004 to 2007. Earlier in his career, he was the Senior Associate District Counsel for Personnel and Ethics at the Defense Contract Management Agency; Chief Counsel at Corpus Christi Army Depot, United States Army Materiel Command; and Senior Labor Counsel at the HQ Depot Systems Command, U.S. Army Materiel Command. On May 31, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Abbott seeking civil penalties for Abbott's willful refusal to file mandatory ethics disclosures.
Peter Barr Robb is an American lawyer who was the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump. He was fired by President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, after he refused to resign. According to his critics, Robb has advanced pro-business and anti-labor causes both in and out of government.
Ernest William "Ernie" DuBester is an American lawyer, academic, and government official who has served as a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority from 2009 to 2023. He began his career at the National Labor Relations Board as counsel to former chairman and member John H. Fanning. DuBester was also a union attorney with the firm of Highsaw & Mahoney, and legislative counsel to the AFL–CIO. From 1993 to 2001, he was chairman and member at the National Mediation Board. From 2001 to 2005, DuBester was the professor and director of the Dispute Resolution Program at the Antonin Scalia Law School.
Mark Gaston Pearce is an American lawyer, arbitrator and university professor who is best known for serving as a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Pearce was designated chairman of the board by President Barack Obama on August 28, 2011, and served as chairman until January 22, 2017. He currently is a visiting professor and the executive director of the Workers' Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center.
SeemaNanda is an American government official currently serving as the United States solicitor of labor in the Biden administration.
Jennifer Ann Abruzzo is an American attorney and government official who serves as General Counsel at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). She previously was Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives for Communications Workers of America (CWA), the largest media and communications union in the United States. She had previously worked for the NLRB for over 20 years in a number of positions, including Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel.
Susan Tsui Grundmann is an American attorney who has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
