Recently, the Trump Administration terminated both new and old federal employees while freezing trillions of dollars in federal grant funds to reduce government spending, as suggested by Elon Musk. According to AP News, Trump and the directive made this happen through the Office of Personal Management (OPM). Thus far, roughly 75,000 workers have been laid off. The mass firings have mainly affected probationary workers, the Department of Veteran Affairs, the Education Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, the National Parks Service, and more. Politically, Senators have commented on the mass terminations with Senator from New York Chuck Schumer calling the firings “a chilling purge” while Lindsey Graham, a Senator from South Carolina said, “Just tell them you need to follow the law next time.”
As reported by Vox.com, the mass lay-offs have caused a group of labor unions to challenge the directive in federal court, arguing OPM did not have the authority to give the order and reasons for dismissal were cited under false performance issues. On February 27th, a federal Judge labeled the firing as “likely illegal” however it is not yet clear what the ruling means for current employees and those who were fired. Judge William Alsup who made the decision said the power to fire and hire employees is up to the agencies themselves, not OPM. According to the OPM official website, in their latest memos, they have advised current government jobholders to not respond to an email by the Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk, asking them five important things they have done this week.
Judge Alsup will decide to officially block further terminations of employees at a hearing on March 13th. Even if the order is blocked, the Trump administration will likely not give up in their efforts to slash the federal workforce by at least 10%. Most, interventions by the courts might only delay the inevitable due to many government agencies are now being run by Trump allies. It is speculated that the process might take longer to cut to fire more civil service workers. “This won’t be the last skirmish in a larger battle to be sure,” said Cary Coglianese, a professor of administrative law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
Sources:
https://www.vox.com/politics/402090/court-musk-layoffs-firing-government-workers
