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Website Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the U.S Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) online and reviewing our website privacy policy. Our website privacy policy explains how we handle visits to our websites and the personally identifiable information (PII) that you provide when you visit us online to browse, obtain information, or conduct a transaction. PII is information that personally identifies you, like your name, email address, or other data that can be reasonably linked to such information.

MSPB will not collect personal information (your name, email address, your mailing address, your telephone number) when you visit our sites unless you choose to provide that information. Even then, the personal information that you provide on an MSPB website will be used only for the purpose for which you provided it, as MSPB does not track or record information about individuals and their visits.

MSPB will revise or update our website privacy policy if our practices change. Please refer to this page for the latest information and effective date(s).

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

If you browse through MSPB's websites, read pages, or download information, our system logs the following information about your visit:

MSPB collects and uses this information, which does not identify you personally, to make MSPB's websites more useful to visitors, i.e., to learn about the number of visitors, content most sought by visitors, and the types of technology used to access the website. We store this information on our web servers until there is no longer a business need to retain it.

MSPB participates in the General Services Administration's (GSA) Digital Analytics Program (DAP) as required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-23-22, Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience (Sept. 22, 2023). For more information on GSA's DAP, please visit https://digital.gov/dap/.

As part of GSA's DAP, MSPB uses Google Analytics 360 web measurement and customization technologies in accordance with OMB Memorandum M-10-22, Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies (June 25, 2010), to collect the statistical information indicated above. The information is automatically sent to the Google Analytics 360 system, and the system immediately aggregates the data. Neither MSPB nor Google have access to the specifics of any particular site that you visit. Only the aggregate data from all users for a particular time period can be viewed. MSPB may use the aggregated data to help improve the visitor experience on MSPB websites. In some cases, MSPB may share the information with other Federal agencies as required in response to law enforcement requests. Google allows users to opt-out of Google Analytics 360 through a browser extension for many major browsers. For additional information on Google Analytics 360, please refer to the following policies on Google's website:

MSPB participates in GSA's DAP, using a single session, Tier I, and collects no PII. This program utilizes Google Analytics 360 IP-address masking (anonymization). The user's full IP address is not written to disk as all anonymization happens in memory and prior to any data storage.

If You Send Us Personal Information

You may provide PII when you send us an email message or a request for information, or when you utilize our e-Appeal system. Other than the information required to log in to access the e-Appeal system, we do not require you to register or provide PII to visit our websites. MSPB will use the PII that you provide on our websites only for the purpose for which you provided it.

The following sections explain how we handle and collect PII when you visit MSPB websites.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

If you choose to send us PII, we will use it only for the purposes of the collection. Submitting PII through our websites is voluntary. If MSPB stores your personal information in a system of records designed to retrieve information about you using a personal identifier(s) so that we may contact you, MSPB will safeguard the information that you provide to us in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974.

Email Communications

Through the MSPB website, you can send us emails and request technical support. We will use the information you provide – such as your name, docket number, and/or email address – to respond to your inquiry. We will only send you general information via email. Please be aware that email may not necessarily be secure against interception. MSPB recommends that you do not send sensitive personally identifiable information (SPII) (e.g., financial information; Social Security number, etc.) to us via email. Rather, we recommend that you submit that data through more secure means, such as by U.S. mail with the ability to track the information. However, we recommend that you do not submit SPII to MSPB at all unless it is necessary and required as part of your interactions with MSPB.

Electronic mail messages that meet the definition of records in the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. § 3101) are covered under the same disposition schedule as all other Federal records. This means that we will preserve and maintain the emails that you send to us for varying periods of time if those emails meet the definition of a Federal record. We will delete electronic messages that are not records when no longer needed for business purposes.

e-Appeal

e-Appeal is MSPB's electronic filing system that allows appellants and other parties to file and receive documents related to their MSPB appeal in electronic form. See 5 C.F.R. § 1201.14. MSPB's e-Appeal site requires e-filers to provide PII if they choose to participate in electronic filing services. For additional information on MSPB's website privacy policy for e-Appeal, please visit https://e-appeal.mspb.gov/. You may also access MSPB's System of Records Notice for Appeals and Case Records, which governs use of such records and information through e-Appeal in accordance with the Privacy Act.

Third-Party Applications

MSPB uses X (formerly Twitter) to share information about the agency and the status of our website and e-Appeal system. MSPB does not use third-party websites to solicit and collect PII from individuals. MSPB will not transmit or store any PII collected by the third-party website.

Cookies

What is a Cookie? Whenever you visit a website, the website can send a small piece of information called a cookie along with the information that you requested. The main purpose of a cookie is to identify and customize webpages for you. There are two kinds of cookies:

  1. Session cookie — A line of text that is stored temporarily in your computer's memory. A session cookie is never written to a drive, and it is destroyed as soon as you close your browser.
  2. Persistent cookie — A line of text saved to a file on your hard drive that is called up the next time you visit that website. This lets the website remember what you were interested in the last time you visited.

MSPB's websites create both session cookies and persistent cookies when you visit them. Because session and persistent cookies are maintained on your own computer's hard drive, MSPB does not collect or maintain any session or persistent cookies related to a specific individual's visit to our website.

Website Privacy Policy Contact Information

If you have questions regarding our website privacy policy or the use of your information, you may contact us at privacy@mspb.gov. This page was last revised on January 15, 2025. For additional information on MSPB’s Privacy Program, please refer to our Privacy Program Page.

View or download the MSPB Website Privacy Policy as a PDF file. (1/15/2025)