Judge Rules Mass Firings of Federal Probationary Employees by OPM is Illegal

Federal District Court Judge William Alsup issued a temporary restraining order to make the Office of Personnel Management rescind its directions to several federal agencies to fire probationary employees.

Alsup’s order affects agencies where firings had an impact on civic organizations whose lawsuit he is hearing, which include Department of Veterans Affairs, National Park Service, Small Business Administration, Bureau of Land Management, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense.

He said, “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. It can hire its own employees, yes. Can fire them. But it cannot order or direct some other agency to do so.”

“OPM has no authority to tell any agency in the United States government, other than itself, who they can hire and who they can fire, period. So on the merits, I think, we start with that important proposition.”

Although Alsup’s TRO directs OPM to stop ordering mass firings and rescind any such orders it has sent out, it is not clear whether federal workers already fired are to be reinstated under the TRO. That step may depend on the final outcome of the case. Alsup has ordered Office of Personnel Management Director Charles Ezell to testify in the case, but a hearing date has not been set.

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