Donald Trump’s administration could rack up a “monumental” bill and is breaking the law by firing government workers on spurious grounds, according to a top labor lawyer.
Officials have cited “poor performance” when terminating thousands of federal workers. In many cases it’s not true, according to employees embroiled in the blitz, many of whom are now seeking legal advice.
Jacob Malcom was acting deputy assistant secretary for policy and environmental management, and director of the office of policy analysis at the US Department of the Interior – until this week, when he resigned in protest against the mass firings of probationary employees.
“This is being done under the guise of ‘poor performance’ or ‘skills not aligned with needs’ but neither are true,” he told the Guardian. “First, no evidence was provided that would suggest that poor performance; in fact, I know some of the individuals that were down my chain of supervision and know they were among the best performers.
“Second, [there has been] no evidence or analysis of a lack of alignment with needs. Some of the people terminated in my chain actually work on performance and efficiency, so they literally work on the public argument of the Doge.”
The so-called “department of government efficiency”, a unit led by billionaire tycoon Elon Musk, has been permitted by Trump to conduct a wide-ranging blitz across the federal government in the name of improving efficiency.
But Suzanne Summerlin, a labor attorney, said an “astounding” level of “fraud, waste and abuse” had been occurring as the Trump administration sought to overhaul a string of departments and agencies.
“These firings they’re conducting without following the law will result in hundreds of thousands of former federal employees being owed back pay, plus interest, plus benefits, plus attorneys fees,” said Summerlin. “When the bill comes it will be monumental.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said: “President Trump and his administration are delivering on the American people’s mandate to eliminate wasteful spending and make federal agencies more efficient, which includes removing probationary employees who are not mission critical.”
The office of personnel management and Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment.
On Thursday, a federal judge ruled against a lawsuit filed by a string of unions requesting a restraining order and preliminary injunction to block the Trump administration’s mass firings. The judge claimed the court did not have jurisdiction, and that the unions must file with the federal labor board.
Thousands of the more than 220,000 probationary employees working for the federal government around the US have received termination notices in recent days as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to dramatically reduce the federal workforce.
One veteran federal worker who spoke to the Guardian had only been a few weeks away from passing her one-year probationary period to be hired permanently by the US Forest Service. Instead they received a termination notice citing poor performance. They had, in fact, received positive performance reviews, a copy of which they shared with the Guardian.
“I would have been a permanent employee on March 10,” they said. “I’ve lost my medical insurance. I have an incurable disease that I kind of need a doctor for. I won’t be able to pay those bills. I’m waiting for my eviction notice right now.”
They were also to sign a non-disclosure agreement, seen by the Guardian, but refused. They requested to remain anonymous for fear of further retaliation toward prospective jobs.
“Elon Musk destroyed 19 years of my career, it’s gone. He put a label on us. We’ve been labeled the fraud, the waste and the bloat of the government,” the worker said. “They have effectively destroyed our careers. We won’t recover from this. There’s no way. The financial fallout is catastrophic, and he’s dismantling everything. I mean, I don’t know how this helps the working man.
“We’re all taxpayers here. I pay taxes, and I work my ass off for my job, despite whatever the rest of the public thinks about federal workers.”
The mass terminations have caused chaos in the federal government. The Trump administration struggled to rescind the firings of employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration and employees working on the bird flu epidemic at the US Department of Agriculture.
A fired probationary employee who was working at the Department of Health and Human Services was among those who received termination notices.
“It’s not just new employees who were affected. Many people were longtime federal employees who had been recently promoted to supervisors, who are usually on probation when they are promoted,” they said. “The termination letters’ claims that they are for ‘poor performance’ are false. Many federal employees scored ‘excellent’ or ‘achieved more than expected’ on their performance reviews and team members can attest to their excellent work and work ethic.”
Congress is facing calls to intervene. “We are concerned that the firings have occurred for partisan political reasons and that they do not follow legal reduction in force procedures,” said Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “These mass layoffs undermine essential government functions and threaten a key check on executive power.”
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