Council interviews two candidates for Merit System Protection Board; no appointment recorded

The Montgomery County Council interviewed two candidates Feb. 20 to serve as the council’s representative on the Merit System Protection Board (MSPB).

Barbara Fredericks, the current chair and a longtime employment and labor attorney, described the board’s central function as adjudicating disputed employment actions using the record and applicable laws. “The most important ... function of this board is to get it right,” Fredericks said, adding that decisions should be “based strictly on the facts before us and the laws and the regulations.” She described a career that included representing government agencies in labor and employment matters, serving as a hearing officer, and teaching employment law.

Era Pande described the MSPB as an independent body that ensures employment decisions are based on merit and free from favoritism, discrimination or political influence. Pande said she brings experience in collective bargaining and workforce development through work with SEIU Local 500 and Montgomery County Public Schools, and emphasized due process, transparency and attention to systemic patterns that could indicate disparities.

Both candidates said they would prioritize fairness and transparent reasoning in MSPB decisions and pledged to examine whether procedural barriers prevent employees from accessing the board’s processes. Fredericks said she had no conflicts of interest and noted her teaching supports her MSPB work; Pande noted her background in workforce development and community engagement and said she had no conflicts to report.

The council thanked both applicants and said it would return with an appointment at a later date; no appointment or roll-call vote was recorded in the transcript.