Federal Personnel Agency Revises Guidance on Terminations After Court Ruling

A federal personnel agency at the center of the mass terminations of government workers issued a revised memorandum to department heads on March 4 after a court found that the terminations of newer employees were likely illegal. “Please note that, by this memorandum, OPM is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees,” the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said in the revised memo. “Agencies have ultimate decision-making authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.” Charles Ezell, the acting OPM director, had issued the document to department heads on Jan. 20, the same day President Donald Trump was sworn in. Ezell wrote that when departments fired newer employees or workers on probationary status, the workers would generally not be able to ask for intervention from the Merit Systems Protection Board....