A coalition of 85 House Democrats has taken a significant step to protect federal workers who were recently hired, promoted, or transferred. On Friday, these lawmakers called on the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to expand its efforts in safeguarding these employees from the ongoing wave of mass firings within the federal government. This initiative comes in light of OSC's recent request to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) for a 45-day stay regarding the firing decisions of six federal employees who are still within their probationary periods. The MSPB has granted this request, highlighting the urgency of the matter.
In a separate but related legal action, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for Northern California ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration must rescind the directives that facilitated the so-called probationary purge of federal employees. The ruling determined that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) lacked the authority to sanction these firings. This legal backdrop adds weight to the Democrats' call for broader protections for federal workers.
In a letter addressed to Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, who was recently reinstated to his position by court order, the House Democrats, led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, urged the OSC to extend its stay request to include all probationary workers who have faced unjust terminations in recent days. According to data from OPM as of May 2024, over 200,000 federal workers have been hired within the past year, many of whom still find themselves in probationary periods with limited civil service protections.
While new hires during their probationary periods have restricted civil service protections, they retain the right to appeal their terminations to the MSPB. Conversely, employees who have recently transferred or been promoted and have served over a year enjoy full due process protections from their previous positions. The lawmakers emphasized the importance of the OSC’s recent recommendation to halt these terminations, stating, “This recommendation has profound implications for the livelihoods of nearly 200,000 federal government employees and the essential services they provide to the American public.”
Earlier this week, the OSC indicated that Dellinger is actively exploring the potential to expand the agency’s findings to encompass other individuals affected by the recent purge, thereby eliminating the need for separate filings with the OSC or MSPB. The agency believes that additional probationary employees may be similarly situated to the six workers currently under review. Furthermore, Pressley and her colleagues urged Dellinger to consider imposing penalties on the officials responsible for initiating and executing this controversial policy targeting probationary workers.
“While your recent recommendation specifically applies to named complainants, it must be broadened and finalized to cover every impacted government worker,” the lawmakers stated in their letter. They stressed the necessity for serious disciplinary actions against the agency officials who facilitated these illegal firings. “Congress has empowered the OSC and the MSPB with the investigatory, prosecutorial, and enforcement authority necessary to counter the unlawful abuses of power, and we stand ready to assist in that effort,” they concluded.
