Thousands join class actions as fired feds weigh options to challenge Trump’s moves – Government Executive
Federal employees and supporters gathered around the reflecting pool in front of the U.S. Capitol on Presidents’ Day to protest the Trump administration’s actions.
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Eric Katz
Multiple law firms are moving forward with class action complaints to challenge the Trump administration’s mass firings of recent hires and other employees on their probationary periods, claiming the terminations were illegal and the workers should be reinstated. Already thousands of employees have signed up to participate in the challenges, with impacted staff across government saying the stated reason for their firings—poor performance—is at odds with the administration’s rhetoric and the sweeping nature of the dismissals. The terminations are ongoing and not expected to wrap up until Wednesday evening, according to the Office of Personnel Management, which is helping to orchestrate the personnel moves, but is likely to sweep up tens of thousands of employees. Alden Law Group, in partnership with Democracy Forward, is bringing a class-wide complaint to the Office of Special Counsel with employees from nine different agencies. The organizations called the complaint the first of its kind and designed to protect the merit-based system within the civil service. OSC is responsible for investigating prohibited personnel practices in the federal government, which include taking personnel actions based on factors other than job-related abilities. “Our civil servants do everything from keeping our food and medicine safe, to securing our borders, to improving our communities,” said Skye Perryman, Democracy Forward’s president. “We will use all legal tools available to protect them from arbitrary firings designed to politicize our government.”If OSC finds in the class’ favor, the case would then go to the Merit Systems Protection Board for corrective action. President Trump has fired the head of both OSC and MSPB, though in recent days federal judges have reinstated both to their positions. The Trump administration is now challenging the reinstatement of Hampton Dellinger, the head of OSC, before the Supreme Court. Danny Rosenthal, a partner at James and Hoffman, is leading a class action appeal directly to MSPB. While unusual, MSPB rules allow for class action cases. Rosenthal said since his firm announced its intention, it has been “like an avalanche of emails from people who are interested.” James and Hoffman has so far heard from between 1,500 and 2,000 fired probationary employees and the firm hopes to file something in the near future. Employees have 30 days to submit appeals but if they do so individually they would likely forfeit their rights to join the class. James and Hoffman will not be charging any upfront costs to impacted individuals seeking to join. Federal workers across government told Government Executive they were keeping their options open, though none said they would walk away without some sort of challenge. Still, some are confronting the economic realities in which they now find themselves. One fired Transportation Department employee at the Federal Transit Administration said he would take his job back if reinstated, as all of his chain of command have advocated to happen. “But I have bills to pay so of course I am applying to new jobs,” the now-former employee said. Federal employee unions cautioned their members to save and print out personnel files including any performance reviews, awards and commendation letters. Employees have been quickly losing access to their government emails and systems and would likely need such information to present upon appeal. Several employees said they are working directly with their unions to chart a course of action and the labor groups are contemplating the best response. The National Treasury Employees Union has sued over the probationary firings and a preliminary hearing took place in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. A fired Environmental Protection Agency employee said they were in the midst of moving to a new state for his EPA job when the firing took place. They are now considering going back to work for their state environmental agency, but that would require being more than four hours away from their partner. “It took a lot to get this job and now it’s about to be over so quickly even though I’ve done nothing wrong,” the former employee said. EPA has fired nearly 400 employees, the agency said.Employees across government received virtually identical termination letters, which cited a lack of a skills match or poor performance. Many employees told Government Executive they had only received “outstanding” reviews or were so new they had not yet received a review. A terminated Small Business Administration employee said he was hired in an on-call role for emergency deployments and was fired for poor performance despite not yet being called into action. While the termination notices allege specific failures by the impacted employees, agencies have been open that they are taking the actions to fulfill Trump’s agenda. An EPA spokesperson, for example, said, “President Trump was elected with a mandate to create a more effective and efficient federal government that serves all Americans, and we are doing just that.” A second former SBA employee fired last week said they are going to fight the termination just to avoid any negative marks on their record. “I just want this termination removed from my record really,” the former employee said. “Of course, it doesn’t seem like pursuing a federal career is worthwhile anymore. It’s a very sad state of affairs.” Related articlesJudge temporarily blocks Trump from firing Democratic member of federal employee appeals boardFederal agencies are still firing probationary employees—most recently NWS and NARAEthics and whistleblower officials fired by Trump
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