Federal employees have been living in a constant state of uncertainty since late January, dealing with mass firings, court decisions that swing back and forth, and an administration that employment lawyers say is systematically dismantling longtime protections. In DC, where federal workers make up 43 percent of the workforce, thousands are scrambling to understand what comes next and turning to labor lawyers for guidance.
It’s not just that jobs are disappearing—it’s how they’re disappearing that’s left federal workers reeling. “Reductions in force (RIFs) have never been done this way before,” says DC attorney Debra D’Agostino. Traditionally, Congress passes a budget that cuts funding for an agency or program, and then jobs are adjusted accordingly. Workers are transferred, retrained, or provided with proper notice and severance based on seniority and performance. “It was all done in a way that people knew what was happening, why it was happening, and could make informed decisions about their own situation,” she says.
Instead, we’re now seeing what D’Agostino calls “RIFs by executive order.” The administration is bypassing careful documentation and procedural safeguards, resulting in employees getting fired without proper justification or having disability accommodations rescinded without review. “There were systems in place that everyone previously more or less respected, that were designed to prevent things like this from happening,” says DC attorney Sarah Nason. “Now...
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