The Trump administration's update to the guidance comes after a federal judge ruled last week that OPM's communications on probationary employees were illegal.
The Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management has revised its guidance on probationary employees, now stating that OPM was not directing agencies to fire federal workers.
An update to OPM’s Jan. 20 memo on Tuesday adds a paragraph clarifying that any decision to fire employees should be left to individual agencies.
“Please note that, by this memorandum, OPM is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees,” the updated memo states. “Agencies have ultimate decision-making authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.”
The original version of OPM’s Jan. 20 memo told agencies to submit lists of all their employees currently within their probationary periods, while also reminding agencies that probationary workers are the easiest to fire from their jobs.
An OPM spokesperson said the clarification comes after a court ruling last week, as well as what the agency described as “public misinformation.”
“It has always been up to agencies whether to take performance-based actions against probationary employees,” the OPM spokesperson told Federal News Network.
OPM’s new update to its memo, however, contrasts with previous reports that OPM was advising agencies to fire their probationary employees. Numerous...
“There has been a lot of misinformation flying around lately, so let me clarify: the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) has absolutely no connection to cloud seeding or any form of weather...