An appeals court decision has left the status of thousands of fired probationary federal employees in limbo. The case involves whether the firings were carried out lawfully. The Supreme Court recently blocked a similar ruling in California, allowing the government to fire probationary employees without court interference.
The decisions focus on narrow issues of standing: whether the probationary firings harmed the plaintiffs enough to grant them the right to sue in district court. In Maryland, 19 states and the District of Columbia sued 20 federal agencies over the abrupt increase in demand for unemployment benefits due to mass firings.
The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to compile lists of all probationary employees early in President Trump’s term. These employees lack the civil service protections of longer-term employees. While legal battles continue, some reinstated employees heard they would be let go again as part of another round of layoffs.
Congress established a separate system for federal employees to handle employment disputes: the independent Merit Systems Protection Board. However, this system is not designed to handle mass firings. The head of this board, Cathy Harris, was fired by Mr. Trump and has since been reinstated and fired multiple times.
— new from The New York Times