Courts Prepared for Discussion on Cases of Federal Employees Terminated During Probationary Period
The federal government is currently embroiled in a legal battle over the mass termination of probationary employees, with a series of court rulings and interventions that have shifted the landscape of the case.
Initially, a federal district judge ruled that the mass termination of probationary employees was unlawful. The judge found that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had illegally directed agencies to terminate employees en masse, taking away agency discretion and bypassing appropriate individual review and due process protections. The termination notices falsely cited performance issues as cause, despite many employees having "Fully Successful" or better ratings, indicating the cited reasons were a "lie" and a "sham."
However, the Supreme Court later stepped in, striking down the injunction protecting the employees. The Court ruled that the administration was likely to win on the merits and suggested that the employees should pursue remedies through the Federal Labor Relations Authority instead of federal court.
The key legal grounds for the court rulings against the mass terminations include the OPM’s unlawful overreach, the false performance justifications provided, and the bypassing of appropriate individual review and due process protections.
In terms of remedial avenues, unions and advocacy groups have challenged the terminations via federal courts initially, achieving a temporary injunction. However, after the Supreme Court's intervention, courts have leaned toward recommending that these cases be addressed through administrative channels like the Federal Labor Relations Authority instead of the courts.
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has been handling a large volume of appeals from terminated probationary employees, but its stance on class actions to address mass terminations has been mixed, with some denials of class status without detailed explanation.
As the case progresses, a hearing on the issue will take place in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California later this month. Union attorneys argue that probationary periods are designed to assess individual employee performance and remove those deemed unfit, while the administration argues that federal employees must challenge their firings before the Merit System Protection Board, and unions must pursue their claims before the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
Nine days after the California hearing, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in an appeal brought by the government. The federal government is currently facing an issue regarding the legality of mass terminations of probationary federal employees, with the case revolving around whether federal agencies were acting under the direction of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) during the mass terminations.
In response to the court rulings, agencies have been following the injunction, including by notifying the workers they initially fired that they were not terminated for "performance" reasons, but were instead fired as part of a government-wide mass termination. The hearing is in response to a motion for summary judgment by a coalition of unions seeking a ruling that the mass firings were illegal.
Judge William Alsup issued an injunction ordering agencies to rehire those employees on April 18, and he later issued another similar injunction based on damage suffered by the union plaintiffs, which still stands. Some agencies have rescinded probationary employees' terminations after OPM's clarification, while others did not. The administration argues that the case should be resolved in their favor without considering the issues of when probationary employees can be fired, as they believe it doesn't belong in federal courts.
The legal landscape of the mass termination of probationary employees has shifted with the Supreme Court's intervention, leaving affected employees to seek relief through administrative bodies rather than courts. The case is expected to continue unfolding in the coming months.
- The workforce reimagined in the federal government, as a result of the mass termination of probationary employees, has become a subject of ongoing policy-and-legislation discussions in political circles, given the federal courts' rulings and the evolving landscape of the case.
- The general-news media has closely followed the legal battle between the federal government and its workforce over the mass termination of probationary employees, with their reports highlighting the impact of policy-and-legislation decisions on the federal workforce and the ongoing tug-of-war between unions and administration.
