Three different determinations can end a federal career in the Baltimore and Washington corridor, and only one is a security clearance decision. A Maryland Federal Employee attorney identifies which one you face before anything else, because the appeal rights range from a full hearing before the Merit Systems Protection Board to nothing at all. People who assume every access problem is a clearance problem give up options they actually have.

Why does the label matter so much?

Because the Supreme Court closed one door and left the others open. Under Department of the Navy v. Egan, decided in 1988, the Board cannot review the merits of a clearance denial or revocation.

Egan does not reach suitability. A suitability determination is reviewable by the Board on the merits, with a hearing and a written decision. A credentialing decision under HSPD-12 sits in a third category with no statutory appeal. Same building, same badge office, three unrelated frameworks.

What is a suitability determination?

Suitability concerns your character or conduct and whether it would affect the integrity or efficiency of the federal service. The governing regulation is 5 CFR Part 731, which applies to competitive service positions and career appointments in the Senior Executive Service.

The regulation lists specific factors: misconduct or negligence in employment, criminal or dishonest conduct, a material and intentional false statement in examination or appointment, refusal to furnish testimony, alcohol abuse or illegal drug use without evidence of rehabilitation, and any statutory bar to employment.

Findings are not automatic. The regulation requires weighing the nature of the position, the seriousness and recency of the conduct, your age when it occurred, contributing circumstances, and evidence of rehabilitation. A decade-old misdemeanor and last year’s falsified timesheet are not the same case.

Available actions include cancellation of eligibility, removal, cancellation of reinstatement eligibility, and debarment from competing for federal positions for up to three years.

What process applies to a suitability action?

You get written notice stating the specific reasons, at least 30 days to respond, the right to representation, and a written decision. An appeal to the Board must be filed within 30 days of the action’s effective date.

There is a limit on how agencies can use this. A tenured employee facing removal for conduct generally must be processed under Chapter 75, with its adverse action protections and Douglas factor analysis, rather than routed through a suitability action. Where an agency took the suitability path against an employee who completed probation, whether that path was available at all is worth challenging.

What happens if your PIV credential is denied?

Very little in the way of appeal rights, which is why this category catches people off guard.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 required a common identity credential for federal employees and contractors, and the technical standard is FIPS 201, published by NIST in Gaithersburg. OPM issued separate credentialing standards governing when a card may be denied or revoked.

A credentialing decision is legally distinct from both suitability and national security eligibility, and no statutory appeal runs to the Board. What you generally have is an internal agency review whose quality varies between agencies.

The practical consequence is severe and often overlooked. Without a credential you cannot enter the facility or the network, so the position becomes impossible to perform even though nobody revoked a clearance or proposed a removal. Read the letter closely to identify which determination was actually made, since agencies sometimes describe a suitability action in credentialing language.

What can a contractor do when site access is pulled?

It depends entirely on whether a Statement of Reasons was issued.

If your clearance is being denied or revoked under the National Industrial Security Program, you receive a Statement of Reasons, you can respond in writing, and you can request a hearing before an administrative judge at the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals, with an appeal to its Appeal Board. That is a real adjudicative process.

If the agency simply withdraws site access or declares you unacceptable for performance on the contract, there is no Statement of Reasons and no hearing. Your clearance stays technically intact while you become unemployable on that contract. Contractors at Fort Meade lose positions this way with no adjudication of anything.

One federal remedy does exist. Under 41 U.S.C. § 4712, contractor and subcontractor employees are protected against reprisal for disclosing gross mismanagement, gross waste, abuse of authority, a substantial danger to public health or safety, or a violation of law relating to a federal contract. The complaint goes to the agency inspector general, and if it is not resolved within the statutory period you can sue in district court, with a jury trial available.

Can you appeal an indefinite suspension pending investigation?

Yes, and it is the most useful opening in a clearance-adjacent case. The clearance decision is unreviewable, but an indefinite suspension imposed while the investigation proceeds is an adverse action.

The Board can examine whether the agency followed Chapter 75 procedures, whether the suspension had a proper basis, whether it was tied to a stated condition, and whether the penalty was reasonable. Agencies that suspend without pay for many months while an adjudication sits idle have lost on these grounds.

What should a Maryland Federal Employee attorney determine first?

Which determination the agency actually made, and what your employment status is. Federal employee, probationary employee, and contractor employee produce three different answers from identical facts, and the letter often uses the wrong terminology.

Not every access problem is a clearance problem, and the difference decides whether you get a hearing or a form letter. If you have received a proposed suitability action, a credentialing denial, or word that your site access is being withdrawn, speak with a Maryland Federal Employee attorney before the 30-day response window closes.