Date: 2025-05-01 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028160
TRUMP
STAFF FIRINGS BEING CHALLENGED
Judge orders rescission of OPM memos directing
agencies to fire probationary employees
STAFF FIRINGS BEING CHALLENGED
Judge orders rescission of OPM memos directing
agencies to fire probationary employees
Original article: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5168222-judge-orders-recission-of-opm-memos-directing-agencies-to-fire-probationary-employees/
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
There is a lot of motion in Washington at the present time, but I am not at all sure that there is progress.
While I applaud the efforts of the Federal Judiciary to stop quite a big number of the Trump initiatives, as I understand it, the stop will go away quite quickly in most of the cases.
But, I also understand that with a few tweeks in the wording, what is clearly wrong can then became legal even though still clearly wrong.
And by 'flooding the zone' Trump is making it difficult for a 'reasonable and loyal opposition to put up a strong coherent argument that will serve to end the chaos.
But it is hard to imagine what damage has already been done to the efficient functioning of government. Though it is popular to talk about government inefficiency, but it is pretty clear that Trump and Musk have succeeded in a little over four weeks to make goverment more inefficient and more ineffective than it has ever been ... and putting it back together will be expensive if it is truly possible.
It is sad that the world is watching America under Trump and Musk seeming to be doing all in their power to consign the United States of America to the dustbin of history.
I don't like Putin, but respect the fact that he intends for Russia to win ... whatever that really means. I don't like Trump either and don't have any respect for him at any level. Putin will play him for the fool that he is ... and America could well lose, taking Ukraine and much of Europe with it.
While a Trump led America could happily sit out the Russia / Ukraine war, the rest of the Western world will do its best to resist Russia and eventually turn the tide and win. As this happens it is very likely that Americans in the USA will get a rude awakening about how little their country is respected ... a situation that has its roots in the way America behaved at the end of WWII.
The world has 'played nice' with the USA to enable themselves to participate in some of the largesse that has been distributed by the USA over the years ... however in real terms this largesse has really been quite small. When I was doing consulting work around the world in more than 50 countries during the 1980s and 1990s, it was surprising how much money Americans talked about but how little actually could be accessed by beneficiaries.
Eventually USAID got its act together and for the last 20+ years USAID has been doing some excellent work. I know something about PEPFAR and PMI that have been implemented by USAID saving millions of lives ... and the wrecking of USAID by Trump and Musk is effectively a massive crime against humanity!
I am not happy. There is nothing about Trump that I can respect ... but for the moment he has substantial power!
Peter Burgess
Written by Ella Lee
02/27/25 6:52 PM ET
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to rescind memos that directed agencies across the federal government to fire probationary employees, finding they were likely unlawful.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup said OPM must notify agencies it did not have the authority to call for the firing of those employees but stopped short of directing agencies themselves not to continue with terminations.
The order only applies to agencies with ties to the plaintiffs in the case, but the judge urged the government to go a step further and notify other agencies as well.
“(The) Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire and fire employees within another agency,” Alsup said.
“The agencies could thumb their nose at OPM if they wanted to,” he added.
Alsup said he would release an opinion with further details in “due course.” An evidentiary hearing is expected next month, where the judge said he wanted OPM acting director Charles Ezell to testify.
A coalition of government employee unions sued over OPM’s directive to agency leaders to fire employees still in their probationary period, which may last anywhere from one to two years after being hired. Those employees still have workplace protections, but it is easier to remove them.
The directive, which was expected to impact up to 200,000 employees, reversed another memo days earlier telling agencies to only remove probationary employees if they were poor performers.
It led agencies to quickly begin slashing their workforce. Roughly 400 employees have been fired by both the Department of Homeland Security and Environmental Protection Agency, while the Interior Department fired about 2,300 people. Cuts still loom at other agencies, including the Defense Department.
Danielle Leonard, a lawyer representing the challengers, said OPM required agencies to use template notices that falsely told probationary employees they were being terminated for performance. She called the action a “wholesale fraud on the federal workforce.”
“They knew that was not true,” Leonard said. “That is the factual issue at the heart of the case.”
The plaintiffs also argued that the mass firing should have been preceded by individualized assessments in line with Reduction in Force (RIF) procedures.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Helland said that the plaintiffs were conflating a “request” by OPM with an “order,” suggesting that the misinterpretation makes a “world of difference” in the case.
He said that the White House budget office asked agencies to review probationers based on their performances but could ultimately make their own decisions about which employees to keep or eliminate.
“That is the house of cards upon which plaintiffs’ claim is built,” Helland said.
He pointed to the Justice Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as examples of agencies which have disregarded OPM’s request, noting that there were no “punishments or consequences” for agencies that declined to follow through.
“Not yet,” Alsup pushed back, asserting that many officials have been “terminated quickly” as of late.
Helland also argued that “personnel actions” such as these should not be challenged in federal courts. Those claims must instead go to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) or Federal Labor Relations Authority, independent administrative agencies.
He pointed to a determination by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) Monday that six probationary employees were improperly terminated, which resulted in the MSPB halting those firings, as an example of utilizing the proper channels.
The director of OSC, Hampton Dellinger, was also fired by the Trump administration and is waging his own legal battle. A federal judge in Washington extended an order barring his removal through Saturday as she weighs further relief.
Dellinger’s lawsuit is one of several challenges to Trump’s firings of independent federal agency leaders with statutory removal protections.
Democratic appointees to multimember commissions like the Merit Systems Protection Board, National Labor Relations Board and Federal Labor Relations Authority have also challenged their firings.
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