Office of Personnel Management (OPM) officials met with agency leaders across government Thursday and directed them to begin firing employees still in their probationary period a year or more after being hired.
Federal employees remain on probation anywhere from one to two years after being hired, depending on their agency, a status that still comes with workplace protections but makes them easier to remove.
The move could impact as many as 200,000 federal employees.
A source familiar with OPM said agency leaders have directed agencies to fire all probationary employees “with some exceptions.” It was not immediately clear what those exceptions were or the extent of discretion given to agencies.
“The probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment. Agencies are taking independent action in light of the recent hiring freeze and in support of the President’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government to better serve the American people atthe highest possible standard,” an OPM spokesperson said in a statement.
The move is a reversal from an OPM directive just days earlier, when agencies were told to remove probationary employees only if they were poor performers.
The Trump administration has also used two other methods to cull the workforce: an executive order from President Trump directing agencies to undertake a reduction in force and the “Fork in the Road” program offering federal workers a buyout.
Agencies across government have already begun carrying out their layoffs of probationary employees.
That was even true at OPM, where the agency fired its probationary staff, cutting them off from systems at 3 p.m. EST, according to Gov Exec.
The move appears to have affected 70 employees there. Employees were asked to join a remote meeting where their cameras, mics and chat features were turned off, a now former employee told The Hill.
The employees were then sent a link to a presentation from OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell informing them they were fired, the employee said. They lost access to systems within 15 minutes of the 3 p.m. firing.
Reports from numerous outlets spelled out plans to fire probationary workers at the Department of Energy, the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration.
It’s not clear whether such widespread firings of employees still on probation is legal.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last week asked congressional leaders to investigate the plans, warning that such mass layoffs would violate laws saying workers can only be fired for cause.
“Mass layoffs of federal employees of the sort that have been reported to be under consideration are presumptively and inherently illegal,” the ACLU wrote.
The ACLU argues the law requires reviewing each employee’s performance on a case-by-case basis, while any large-scale firings would have to follow existing law for shrinking the workforce.
Despite their probationary status, the employees are still afforded much of the same protections as the broader federal workforce, meaning they must be informed of “inadequacies” in their performance before being fired.
“While the law allows for the termination of probationary employees for performance or conduct reasons, a mass firing on this scale without any sort of individualized assessment or following of Reduction in Force (RIF) procedures raises serious legal concerns,” the ACLU wrote.
