Federal court rules OPM illegally instigated large-scale terminations; government urged to revise personnel documents
In a significant development, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ruled late Friday that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) exceeded its powers in a directive to fire probationary federal employees en masse under false pretenses.
The ruling applies to several key departments, including Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, Treasury, Transportation, and Agriculture. However, OPM, NASA, the State Department, and the Office of Management and Budget are exempt from the ruling.
The judge's ruling states that fired probationary employees can be redressed without reinstatement. Alsup wrote that reinstatement would unlikely provide much relief, as terminated probationary employees have moved on with their lives and found new jobs.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that the Trump administration has broad authority to reshape and shrink the federal workforce. However, Alsup determined that OPM decided who to fire and when to fire, which goes against the normal process and could potentially infringe on the employees' rights.
OPM Director Scott Kupor wrote in his blog that a central tenet of President Trump's administration is to attract and retain exceptional civil servants. He also wrote that the administration aims to improve the efficiency and accountability of the federal workforce. However, the judge's ruling suggests that the OPM's actions may have undermined these goals.
Kupor also wrote that the government has been hampered in its ability to hire based on merit and that for too long federal spending has increased without a focus on efficiency.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, called the ruling "another significant victory for federal employees and for all Americans." He stated that the ruling reaffirms the importance of due process and the rule of law.
The ruling does not reinstate any of the 25,000 probationary federal employees fired around mid-February, but it directs many agencies to update personnel records. The judge's ruling directs most agencies to update their personnel files to state that probationary employees were not fired for performance or conduct by Nov. 14.
The ruling does not prohibit any federal agency from terminating any employee, as long as they follow applicable law and do not use the OPM template termination notice. Agencies must send letters to impacted employees stating they were not fired for performance issues.
Many probationary federal employees may no longer be willing or able to return to their posts due to changes in the agencies. The ruling comes as a relief for those who were wrongfully terminated and a call for the OPM to exercise its powers responsibly in the future.
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