The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) has determined that six probationary employees were improperly terminated, asking an employment body to intervene and temporarily bar the removals in a matter that could impact thousands of recently fired employees.
In redacted filings now shared publicly, special counsel Hampton Dellinger said the firing of the probationary employees likely violated laws requiring that employees be removed for cause, asking the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to issue a 45-day stay blocking the terminations.
Dellinger concluded that the probationary firings violate the law governing the civil service, as well as the principles underpinning the merit-based hiring system.
“These principles establish that all federal employees, including those in a probationary status, should be evaluated based on individual performance,” Dellinger said in a statement.
“If agencies wish to terminate probationary employees not for performance or conduct, but as part of a general restructuring or downsizing, they must initiate a reduction in force (RIF) and follow the relevant procedures for that process,” he added in one of the filings.
“This requirement is not a simple bureaucratic technicality — compelling agencies to assess the specific fitness of each employee prior to terminating them ensures that outstanding employees are not arbitrarily lost and that terminations are truly in the best interests of the federal service.”
GovExec first obtained and reported...
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