Unions representing federal workers are suing the Trump administration over its move to fire so-called probationary employees across the government.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that the Office of Personnel Management violated the law by ordering federal agencies across the country to “wipe out their ranks of probationary employees without any regard to applicable statutes.”
Federal agencies in recent days have moved to terminate probationary employees, including new hires as well as long-term staffers who switched jobs or agencies. The terminations come as part of a broader Trump administration push to dramatically downsize the federal workforce.
“As of the filing of this Complaint, tens of thousands of probationary employees across dozens of federal agencies have already been terminated in the summary, assembly-line fashion directed by OPM,” says the lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO; AFGE Local 1216; and United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, AFSCME, AFL-CIO.
