AFSA Warns Department of Justice Opinion Undermines Independent Foreign Service Grievance Board Process

For Immediate Release
August 24, 2026
Press Contact: Communications & Outreach Director Nikki Gamer | gamer@afsa.org

Washington, D.C. – The Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion on the Foreign Service Grievance Board (FSGB) threatens a key safeguard of the professional, nonpartisan Foreign Service.

For decades, the FSGB has served as an independent forum for Foreign Service employees to challenge disciplinary actions and other personnel decisions. Under the Department of Justice’s opinion, the board could continue to hear those cases, but its decisions would no longer be final. The Secretary of State or another presidentially accountable official would have the ultimate authority to modify or reject them.

That fundamentally changes the role of the board from a body charged with rendering final decisions into an advisory body. An independent review process cannot provide the same safeguards if the department whose action is being challenged ultimately has the power to overrule the decision.

This matters far beyond any individual grievance or proposed disciplinary action. Independent review and meaningful due process protect employees from arbitrary or improper personnel actions while helping preserve the integrity and nonpartisan character of the Foreign Service itself.

Congress established the FSGB and gave it independent authority as part of the Foreign Service Act. Despite the clear intent of Congress to provide Foreign Service employees with an independent forum to decide disputes, the Department of Justice’s opinion concludes that provisions giving the board final decision-making authority are unconstitutional and should no longer be enforced. Exactly how the department will implement that opinion, and what it will mean for pending and future cases, remains to be seen.

AFSA is closely assessing those questions and monitoring the implications of this opinion on the rights of Foreign Service employees. We will continue to vigorously defend our members’ due process rights and the principles of a professional, nonpartisan career Foreign Service.

The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) is the professional association and labor union of the men and women of the United States Foreign Service.