WaPo (“Trump administration directs agency heads to fire most probationary staff“):
The Trump administration on Thursday moved swiftly to fire thousands of workers and directed agency heads to terminate most trial and probationary staff — a move that could affect as many as 200,000 employees, according to four people familiar with internal conversations who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
It was not immediately clear how many of those hired by the federal government within the last two years would be affected. One person familiar with the matter said some employees, such as those working on public safety and law enforcement issues, would be spared, and agency heads could exempt others.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, said in a statement his union would “fight these firings every step of the way,” including by pursuing “every legal challenge available.”
“Employees were given no notice, no due process, and no opportunity to defend themselves in a blatant violation of the principles of fairness and merit that are supposed to govern federal employment,” Kelley said.
Agencies appeared to move quickly on Thursday to carry out the directive, according to interviews with dozens of federal employees and records obtained by The Washington Post. Thousands of workers were laid off in messages delivered through prerecorded videos and on group calls. Some were ordered to leave the building within 30 minutes. Others were told they would be formally fired by emails, which never arrived.
The latest data shows there were more than 220,000 federal employees within their one-year probationary period as of last March, according to Fedscope. These workers typically have little protection from being fired without cause.
“It’s stripping out, likely, a whole new generation of talent for our government, who are targeted not because of evidence of poor performance but because they are easier to get rid of,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on improving government.
Regardless of whether it’s wise to get rid of essentially every new employee in the Federal government regardless of talent level, it’s likely legal.
An information sheet from the US Merit Systems Protection Board notes,
Probationary employees do not have a statutory right to appeal their termination to the Board. If you are a preference eligible in the excepted service and you have not completed 1 year or more of current, continuous service in the same or similar position, you may not appeal your termination to the Board.
Further, there are very few due process rights:
If the agency terminates you for unsatisfactory performance or conduct during your probationary period, you are entitled to a written notice why you are being separated and the effective date of the separation. The agency must, at a minimum, state its conclusions as to the inadequacies in your performance or conduct. 5 C.F.R. §315.804. You may appeal your termination (if it was not required by statute) only if you allege it was based on partisan political reasons or marital status. 5 C.F.R. § 315.806(b).
While the President is a partisan actor, the across-the-board nature of the firings would seem to obviate that challenge.
OPM does advise supervisors of probationary employees
The process to terminate a probationer usually does not require giving them advanced notice or a right to respond, and their appeal rights afterward are limited, but you do need to follow the rules for how to separate a particular probationer.
and
Communicate expectations for performance and conduct.
If your employees don’t understand what is expected, it will be very hard, if not impossible, for them to meet those expectations. Providing clear expectations doesn’t necessarily require you to lay out precisely written, detailed instructions on conduct or every performance component. Generally, the question you should ask yourself is: “Would a reasonable person understand what was expected?”
Provide regular and frequent feedback.
Feedback, both positive and corrective, whether given in regularly scheduled meetings or in unscheduled discussions, is crucial to ensuring that expectations are understood. Probationers should receive closer supervision and instruction, as needed during the first year of their employment. Managers and supervisors are advised to view this provided time period as an opportunity to potentially course correct with capable employees. These measures aid in preserving the investment the agency has made in the probationer. They also give probationers a fair opportunity to demonstrate why it is in the public interest to finalize an appointment to the Federal service.
But I doubt this has any legal force; it’s just common-sense advice for leaders.
