Attorneys representing an Interior Department lawyer the agency wants to fire are focusing their efforts on restoring the lawyer’s job on the actions of a former member of the Elon Musk-led downsizing team who’s now a top Interior official.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says in documents filed with the department last week that Tyler Hassen, a former member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency who’s now Interior’s acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, lacks the authority to fire the attorney whose actions were protected under the Whistleblower Protection Act, among other laws.
Hassen last month formally notified Tony Irish, an associate solicitor for Interior’s Division of General Law, that he was being terminated after the lawyer and at least two top Interior IT officials resisted attempts by agency employees affiliated with DOGE to gain access to a federal payroll system that contains sensitive information on thousands of employees.
The documents were submitted Friday to JoDee Hanson, a top aide to the Interior secretary who will decide the merits of Irish’s administrative challenge to Hassen’s decision to fire him. Irish has been on administrative leave since March following the dustup over the payroll access that DOGE was eventually granted.
