The Officer Appellate Board, Part One: What an Adverse Action Is and Who Can Appeal One

Officer Appellate Board: A Five Part Series

What an Adverse Action Is and Who Can Appeal One
The Filing Decisions You Cannot Take Back
How the Record Closes
The Three Questions the Board Answers
After the Decision

On January 23, 2026, Thomas J. Regan, Assistant Administrator (Acting) for Human Capital, signed TSA Management Directive 1100.77-3. It took effect February 6, 2026, along with its handbook.

The directive states its purpose in one sentence:

This directive provides TSA policy and procedures for impartial Officer Appellate Board (OAB or Board) review of appeals of specified adverse actions taken against Transportation Security Officers (TSOs).

The handbook defines what that body is:

Officer Appellate Board (OAB or Board): An impartial body within the Professional Responsibility (PR) office that reviews and decides appeals by Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) of specified adverse employment actions.

Handbook, Section A(7)

Note the word "specified" in both. The Board takes a defined list of actions and nothing outside it. If what happened to you is not on the list, the strength of your case does not matter, because the Board will not reach it.

This is the first of five articles. Against Giants has read the documentation in full, and everything below is quoted from primary sources. Where we tell you what a provision means for you, we show you the provision first.

What an Adverse Action Is

Section A(1) of the handbook:

Adverse Action: A suspension of more than 14 days, including an indefinite suspension, an involuntary demotion for performance/conduct, furloughs of any length, or a removal.

TSA's FAQ says the same:

Only adverse actions may be appealed to the OAB. Adverse actions include: a suspension of more than 14 days, including an indefinite suspension, an involuntary demotion for performance/conduct, furloughs of any length, or a removal.

FAQ 4

Four categories. Everything the Board does begins there.

What an Adverse Action Is Not

TSA's discipline handbook defines the other category:

Disciplinary Action: Actions consisting of a Letter of Reprimand to a suspension of 14 days or less.

Handbook to MD 1100.75-3, Section A(10)

A letter of reprimand is a disciplinary action. So is a suspension of 14 days or less. They are not adverse actions and the Board does not take them.

The line is not drawn by how much the action costs an officer. It is drawn by the definitions above, and the two categories run through different processes with different rules.

Against Giants can tell you which category your action falls into and what governs it.

Which Adverse Actions the Board Reviews

Section 6.A(1) of the directive:

The Board is authorized to review appeals of the following specified adverse actions:

(a) Suspensions of more than 14 days;
(b) Indefinite suspensions;
(c) Involuntary demotions for performance/conduct;
(d) Furloughs of any length. For more information see TSA MD 1100.63-2, Furlough (Agency Placement of Employees in Nonpay, Nonduty Status);
(e) Removals under the provisions of TSA MD 1100.75-3, Addressing Unacceptable Performance and Conduct, and associated Handbook;
(f) Removals after findings of not medically qualified;
(g) Removals under Involuntary Workforce Reductions in accordance with HCM 351-2, Transportation Security Officer (TSO) Involuntary Workforce Reduction Procedures; and
(h) Other actions, as directed by the TSA Administrator, or designee.

Items (e) through (g) are all removals. They are listed separately because each arrives from a different policy, and each of those policies has its own rules about how the action had to be taken. A removal for unacceptable conduct and a removal after a finding of not medically qualified are both removals, and they are not argued the same way.

Against Giants can identify which policy produced your action and what that policy required of management.

Who Can Appeal

Section 2 of the directive:

This directive applies to all TSOs, as defined in the handbook, in permanent positions who are not serving a TSA trial period, and TSOs in temporary positions who have completed two years or more of current continuous service in a time-limited appointment of more than two years. Refer to TSA MD 1100.31-1, Trial Periods, for additional information.

The handbook supplies the definition:

Transportation Security Officer (TSO): The title TSO is used in this policy to include all positions within the TSO 1802 occupational series, i.e., TSO, Lead TSO, Supervisory TSO, Master TSO (MTSO), and Expert TSO (ETSO).

Handbook, Section A(14)

TSA's FAQ repeats the list and adds the start date:

Starting February 6, 2026, TSOs may appeal specified adverse employment actions to the OAB consistent with TSA Management Directive (MD) 1100.77-3, Officer Appellate Board, and Handbook.

FAQ 3

Supervisory TSOs are named in the series. An STSO in a permanent position, past the trial period, is covered.

Against Giants can confirm whether the Board covers your position and your appointment.

What TSA Says About Supervisors

Question 1 of the FAQ asks whether the Board is the only option. For the bargaining unit, TSA answers that a grievance under Article 28 of the 2024 agreement remains available so long as that agreement remains in effect. Then it addresses supervisors:

STSOs do not have a grievance alternative for adverse actions. While STSOs retain grievance rights under TSA HCM 771-4, National Resolution Center, adverse actions for non-bargaining unit employees are not grievable, making the OAB their sole avenue for appeal.

Sole avenue is TSA's phrase, not ours.

That is TSA's own description of where a supervisor stands.

Against Giants advocates for supervisors through this process, and we built that service around the sentence above.

What the Board Will Not Take

Section F(1) of the handbook:

The Board will not accept appeals relating to trial period terminations, or the expiration/cancellation of time-limited appointments.

Section 6.A(2) of the directive rules out claims rather than actions:

The Board is not authorized to review and decide allegations of discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, parental status, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, and reprisal for protected activity, or other categories protected under the law. Nor will it consider and decide whistleblower retaliation allegations or Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act removals. If such allegations are raised in connection with the adverse action appeal, the Board will only decide, as appropriate, whether management proved the charges by the applicable standard of proof, whether there is a nexus between a legitimate government interest and the matter at issue, and whether the penalty was reasonable.

Read the last sentence carefully. Raising one of those claims in your appeal does not get it decided. The Board still answers three questions and only three: whether management proved the charges, whether there is a nexus, and whether the penalty was reasonable.

Some of those claims have forums of their own. TSA's January 27, 2026 broadcast to all employees states:

Certain matters remain appealable to the MSPB via statute, specifically those covered under the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Additionally, this action has no impact on the screening workforce's right to pursue claims before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The FAQ says the same at Question 1. Each of those forums has its own office and its own filing deadline, and nothing in the OAB documents tells an officer which one a given claim belongs in.

Against Giants can help you sort which claim belongs in which forum before a deadline runs.

Who Decides

Section 6.B of the directive:

Board Panels. Board panels convened to hear and decide appeals shall be composed of three voting members: the Chair and two members from SO.

(1) Panel: Three voting members of a panel are required for a quorum, one of whom must be the Chair.
(2) Voting: Appeals are decided by majority vote. The decision date and votes will be recorded in the case file.
(3) Other Attendees: In addition to voting members, Board panels may be attended by PR program staff members, invited subject matter experts, and invited observers. Attorneys from Chief Counsel will attend as legal advisors to the Board.

Section 5.B names the Chair as the Director of Professional Responsibility, responsible for the Board's management and operations. Section 5.C covers the other two seats:

The Executive Assistant Administrator for Security Operations (EAA/SO), or designee, is responsible for nominating and forwarding to the PR Director the names of SO employees eligible to serve as Board members. The nominees shall be J Band or above with satisfactory performance ratings and no adverse or disciplinary actions within the last two years.

Section 6.C sets impartiality rules:

(1) No one in attendance at a Board panel may disclose the vote or opinion of any particular Board member.
(2) No one may attempt to influence the vote or opinion of a Board member in any matter before the Board, except by written submissions in accordance with this directive, or by persuasion during discussion at the Board panel, based upon evidence properly before the Board.
(3) No Board member's performance evaluation, pay, or consideration for awards may be based in whole or in part on the member's vote or opinion as a Board member.

Paragraph (2) tells an officer where their influence lives. Written submissions in accordance with this directive. That is the channel the rules give you.

What the Board Reads

The FAQ describes the file:

The Board panel members meet to discuss and deliberate each appeal based on the information contained in the case file. The case file is comprised of a full record of the action taken, along with the appellant's paper appeal, management's response to the appeal, and the appellant's response to management, if any.

FAQ 2

Your appeal and your reply. That is your share of the record.

Neither the directive nor the handbook sets out a procedure for an appellant to appear, testify, call a witness, or question anyone. An officer should plan on the writing being the only voice they get.

Against Giants can build that written record with you. Part Three covers how it is assembled and how quickly it closes.

Representation and Cost

Section 6.F of the directive:

Right to Representation. Under the provisions of TSA MD 1100.63-3, Employee Representation, an appellant has a right to have a representative of his or her choosing to assist in preparing and submitting an appeal to the Board. Any representative must be designated in writing, signed personally by the appellant. Management may disallow the representative for the reasons set forth in TSA MD 1100.63-3.

Section 6.G is one sentence:

Costs and Expenses. All appeal expenses are the appellant's sole responsibility.

Section D of the handbook limits official time:

If the appellant and his or her representative are current TSA employees, the appellant, and the appellant's representative, if any, may request a reasonable amount of official time to prepare and present the appeal.

Read those together before you choose. The right to a representative of your choosing is broad. The official time provision reaches only representatives who are current TSA employees, and every expense is yours either way.

Against Giants is an outside firm, independent of TSA and of any federal employee organization and can guide you through the appeal from the decision letter to the Board's written decision.

What Comes Next

Part Two covers filing. TSA's FAQ gives the headline:

An appeal must be filed no later than 30 days after the effective date of an appealable action. Appeal instructions will be provided to the TSO in the Agency's notice of final decision.

FAQ 5

The handbook adds how the days are counted, what date counts as your filing date for each delivery method, how extensions work, and the five things an appeal has to contain.

If you are holding a decision letter, the count has already started. Against Giants advocates for federal transportation security employees. againstgiantsllc.com/get-help.html or info@againstgiantsllc.com

Scott Robinson is the Co-Founder and Principal Advocate of Against Giants Labor Advocates, LLC. Against Giants is an independent, nonpartisan workplace advocacy firm and does not provide legal services. Contact: info@againstgiantsllc.com.