Thousands of federal workers were dismissed Thursday as part of the first round of Trump’s reduction in the size of government. The dismissals targeted probationary employees, that is, those employees with less than two years of service, because they have little job protection.
Recent hires in probationary status do not maintain the same protections against firings as do most other federal workers, though they can still appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board if they allege the firings took place for partisan political reasons.
Earlier this week, OPM convened a call with federal agencies’ general counsels and instructed them not to pursue widespread firings of probationary period workers. Instead, OPM said, they should terminate only such workers that they have deemed poor performers.
Still, the dismissals have taken place on a widespread basis at…
