Created under the Foreign Service Act of 1980, 22 U.S.C. §§ 4101-4118, the Foreign Service Impasse Disputes Panel assists in resolving impasses arising in the course of collective bargaining under the Act over conditions of employment affecting Foreign Service employees working for the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. Department of Commerce.  

The Act provides that the Chairperson of the Foreign Service Labor Relations Board – who concurrently serves as the FLRA Chairman – appoints the five Foreign Service Impasse Disputes Panel members, and requires that it be composed of two members of the Foreign Service (who are not management officials, confidential employees, or labor organization officials); one member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel; one individual employed by the U.S. Department of Labor; and one public member who does not hold any other office or position in the government.