New Office of Special Counsel Filing Seeks to Broaden the Scope and Reinstate Tens of Thousands of Unlawfully Terminated Probationary Federal Workers

Washington, DC –Today, Democracy Forward and Alden Group, PLLC filed a request urging the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to broaden its stay request to include all probationary employees who were unlawfully terminated by the Trump-Vance administration’s policy in mass firings across federal agencies.

Following our prior class complaint on behalf of six federal employees unlawfully terminated, last night the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) granted a temporary stay, recognizing there were reasonable grounds to believe their dismissals violated federal law. But these six were just the tip of the iceberg: evidence shows that tens of thousands of additional terminations were carried out in the exact same manner—without considering the employees’ performance or conduct.

“Americans across the nation rely on our civil servants to protect our communities, ensure our food and water are safe, and to deliver essential services. This matter is about protecting the people who work for the American people. It’s about fairness, stability, and the rule of law. That means protecting the non-partisan civil service from an Administration bent on creating chaos and uncertainty,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The government cannot sidestep legal protections to implement massive causeless and politically motivated terminations. We are working hard to support those who support our nation.”

The new filing asks OSC to broaden the scope of the stay to cover all similarly situated probationary employees. That would mean putting tens of thousands of federal workers who were unlawfully removed with no consideration of their performance back in their jobs. This strengthens the case for protecting all impacted employees and holding agencies accountable for sidestepping civil service protections.

“Our civil service protections exist for a reason—to prevent politically motivated purges that undermine the integrity of our government,” said Rob Shriver, Managing Director of Democracy Forward’s Civil Service Strong. “No federal worker should lose their job by unlawful means. This request demands that all impacted employees be judged based on their own job performance and not on the perceptions and biases of an unelected billionaire..”

Resources for Civil Servants are available at www.civilservicestrong.org. 

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