{"id":9706,"date":"2025-02-14T10:44:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T02:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=9706"},"modified":"2025-02-14T10:44:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T02:44:22","slug":"opm-directs-agencies-to-fire-government-workers-still-on-probation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=9706","title":{"rendered":"OPM directs agencies to fire government workers still on probation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move could impact as many as 200,000 federal employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A source familiar with OPM said agency leaders have directed agencies to fire all probationary employees \u201cwith some exceptions.\u201d It was not immediately clear what those exceptions were or the extent of discretion given to agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government to better serve the American people atthe highest possible standard,\u201d an OPM spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cFork in the Road\u201d program offering federal workers a buyout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agencies across government have already begun carrying out their layoffs of probationary employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not clear whether such widespread firings of employees still on probation is legal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMass layoffs of federal employees of the sort that have been reported to be under consideration are presumptively and inherently illegal,\u201d the ACLU wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ACLU argues the law requires reviewing each employee\u2019s performance on a case-by-case basis, while any large-scale firings would have to follow existing law for shrinking the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cinadequacies\u201d in their performance before being fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile 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,\u201d the ACLU wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3105,3106,3104],"class_list":["post-9706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-agencies","tag-employees","tag-opm"],"yoast_head":"\nOPM directs agencies to fire government workers still on probation - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=9706\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OPM directs agencies to fire government workers still on probation - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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