Nineteen Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia are arguing in court that the Trump administration’s mass firing of “probationary” employees at agencies like EPA will hurt states financially and damage their partnerships with the federal government.
The states on Thursday told the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that the firings violate federal statutes and regulations governing reductions of the federal workforce.
“President Trump’s unlawful mass firings of federal workers are a blatant attack on the civil service, throwing thousands of hardworking families into financial turmoil,” said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, who led the blue states’ lawsuit. “Instead of following the law and notifying states, his administration blindsided Maryland, forcing us to deal with the devastating economic fallout and social consequences.”
The states’ lawsuit stems from a Feb. 14 directive from the Office of Personnel Management instructing agencies to terminate thousands of workers with “probationary” status — generally those with less than 1-2 years of service, depending on how they are classified. OPM, which serves as the federal government’s human resources department, later issued an updated memo saying agencies “have ultimate decisionmaking authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.”
