Federal judge invalidates OPM’s directives to terminate federal probationary workers – Federal News Network
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A federal court said OPM’s directives on probationary firings have no legal effect, since the office has no authority to order firings in other agencies.A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Thursday that Office of Personnel Management directives telling federal agencies to fire their probationary employees were illegal, likely requiring at least some agencies to put a stop to the mass terminations that have been underway across the government.In a case brought by federal unions and advocacy groups, Senior District Judge William Alsup ruled that communications from OPM to federal agencies on Jan. 20 and Feb. 14 regarding the termination of probationary workers amounted to illegal directives, and held that they have no legal effect with regard to at least six federal agencies.“OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees within another agency,” Alsup said in a ruling from the bench Thursday afternoon. “It can hire its own employees, yes, but it cannot direct some other agency to do so. “That is a crystal clear starting point for the analysis here.”The overall effect of the order was not immediately clear. Because of jurisdictional issues involved in the lawsuit, Alsup said that for now, his order could only be applied to affected employees in the National Park Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, and the Department of Defense. Join us Mar. 25-26 at 1 p.m. ET to hear from top Defense and industry leaders on the latest tech, strategy and innovation shaping DoD modernization during the DoD Modernization Exchange event. | Register now!However, without directly issuing an order to other agencies, he asked that attorneys communicate the general message of his ruling across the government.“I am going to count on the government to do the right thing, and to go a little bit further than I have ordered, and to let some of these agencies know what I have ruled, because I would hate for probationary employees to lose their job and for the government to be compromised,” he said. “These young people — these probationary employees are the lifeblood of these agencies, and it would be a shame for them to be compromised and prejudiced [by agencies] not knowing about the ruling.”Alsup said he would issue a more detailed ruling in a forthcoming written opinion, but said he felt it was important to issue the substance of his findings right away in light of the fact that the Department of Defense had been planning to start terminating thousands of probationary employees on Friday.He said he could not directly order DoD or other agencies not to go through with the terminations. However, as part of its planning for the firings, the department appears to have been relying on the OPM memos that the judge ruled were “ultra vires,” or outside of OPM’s legal authority.“In accordance with direction from OPM, beginning February 28, 2025, all DoD components must terminate the employment of all individuals who are currently serving a probationary or trial period,” with limited exceptions, according to a notice the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service sent to the military services and other DoD components on Tuesday.Attorneys for the government had argued that the OPM memos regarding probationary employee terminations were mere “guidance” and not directives, and therefore were legally permissible. They argued that any decisions that were made to terminate probationary workers were under agencies’ own hiring and firing authority.The judge, however, did not find that argument credible in light of the fact that numerous federal agencies, in their internal communications and in some cases in testimony to Congress, interpreted the communications as directives or orders. Sign up for our daily newsletter so you never miss a beat on all things federal“How could so much of the workforce be amputated, suddenly, overnight? It’s so irregular and so widespread and so aberrant in the history of our country,” he said. “How could that all happen with each agency deciding on its own to do something so aberrational? I don’t believe it. I believe they were directed or ordered to do so by OPM. That’s the way the evidence points now.”The ruling was only a partial victory for the group of plaintiffs, which had sought to halt the mass terminations of probationary employees governmentwide.Alsup found he could not grant relief on behalf of federal unions or federal employees directly, even though he believes the directives that led to their firings were illegal. Like other federal courts have found in recent cases, he ruled that employees need to challenge their terminations before the Merit Systems Protection Board, and unions must channel their grievances to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, not through federal courts.Instead, he said he was ruling on behalf of other plaintiffs in the case who said they were harmed by the large number of federal employee firings, including the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Vote Vets Action Fund, and Main Street Alliance, a coalition of small businesses.This breaking news story will be updated. Copyright
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Jared Serbu is deputy editor of Federal News Network and reports on the Defense Department’s contracting, legislative, workforce and IT issues.Follow @jserbuWFED
