A quasi-judicial board has temporarily blocked the firing of six federal employees who were terminated as the Trump administration directed agencies to oust probationary staffers — an early determination that the widespread firings may be illegal.
The order from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) returns those employees to their positions for 45 days — allowing the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) to continue an investigation after finding the firings were likely illegal.
“The available evidence indicates that the agencies improperly used the relators’ probationary status to accomplish RIFs without affording them the substantive rights and due process to which they are entitled during the same,” the MSPB wrote in their order, referencing the OSC’s findings.
Special counsel Hampton Dellinger, who initially petitioned the MSPB, said late Tuesday that his work was “far from done” and urged agency heads to “immediately rescind any and every unlawful termination of probationary employees.”
The Trump administration earlier this month directed agencies to fire employees still on probation, a group of an estimated 200,000 workers who were hired within the past year or two. The probationary period varies by agency and also determines when employees are promoted.
The order impacts only the six employees, each at different agencies, who brought claims to the OSC.
Dellinger said earlier this week he plans to continue investigating the broader legality of the widespread...
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