Administrative Grievances & Other Grievance Forums

The NASA Administrative Grievance System (AGS) has a limited scope and cannot be used to challenge matters that fall under separate statutory or regulatory processes. Specifically, matters including adverse actions under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 75, discrimination complaints under 29 C.F.R. Part 1614, unfair labor practices under 5 U.S.C. § 7116, and prohibited personnel practices under 5 U.S.C. § 2302 are excluded from coverage. These matters must instead be pursued through the appropriate external forum, such as the Merit System Protection Board (MSPB), U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Office of Special Counsel (OSC), or Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

However, filing an applicable grievance under the AGS does not constitute an “election of remedy” in the statutory sense which means it does not prevent you from pursuing other legal remedies. Because the AGS is an internal management process, not a negotiated grievance procedure under 5 U.S.C. § 7121, using it does not bar an employee from subsequently pursuing avenues, such as MSPB, OSC, EEOC, or FLRA, for matters within their jurisdiction.

As an example, suppose an employee is suspended for 30 days. Because that’s an “adverse action” under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 75, it cannot be filed as an AGS grievance. The employee must instead appeal to the MSPB (or, if they allege discrimination was a factor, they could elect to pursue the mixed-case route through EEO or MSPB). Similarly, if an employee believes they were denied a promotion because of race or disability, that is a discrimination claim and must go through the EEO process, not AGS.

As another example, suppose an employee files an AGS grievance about being denied local travel reimbursement, or about a manager’s failure to follow an internal NASA policy. That grievance goes through the AGS channels. Later, the same employee discovers that the issue also ties into a prohibited personnel practice (say, retaliation for whistleblowing). Because the AGS is not a statutory negotiated grievance procedure, filing the AGS grievance does not block the employee from separately pursuing a whistleblower retaliation complaint with OSC or MSPB. In contrast, if the employee had filed the same matter under a union-negotiated grievance procedure (NGP), that would be considered an election of remedy under 5 U.S.C. § 7121, meaning they couldn’t later switch and file an MSPB appeal on the same issue.

Although the AGS does not constitute an “election of remedies”, it is important to understand the timelines that are involved with filing appeals or claims in other forums. A response to an informal grievance should normally be received from the supervisor within 15 days after submission and a response from the deciding official in the formal stage should be received within 52 days after escalating the grievance to the HR Director. Thus, waiting to receive a final decision on a grievance submitted through the AGS could affect the ability to pursue relief in other forums. For example, an informal EEO claim must be submitted to the EEO Counselor within 45 calendar days.