# Individual Right of Action The **Individual Right of Action** (IRA) is the appeal a federal employee may take to the [[Merit Systems Protection Board]] on their own behalf, under **5 U.S.C. § 1214(a)(3)**, when the [[Office of Special Counsel]] has not acted on their retaliation complaint. It opens on either of two conditions: OSC terminates its investigation and fewer than 60 days have passed, or **120 days pass** without OSC notifying the employee that it will seek corrective action for them. The clock runs whether or not OSC does anything, which is the point — the IRA exists so that a whistleblower's remedy does not depend on the discretion of the office designated to protect them. The IRA is the only remedial door in the civil-service channel. It is also the one that closes when the Board lacks a quorum: from April 2025 to October 2025 an IRA appellant could receive an initial decision from an administrative judge but could not obtain Board review of it. Created by the [[Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989]]. This is a stub — expand with the exhaustion requirement, the jurisdictional pleading standard, and the scope difference between an IRA and an otherwise-appealable action. ## See also - [[Federal Whistleblower Protection Crosswalk]] - [[Prohibited Personnel Practice]] - [[Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989]]