Feb. 26 (UPI) — The independent federal Merit Systems Protection Board stayed the firing of six federal workers for 45 days, ruling they must get their jobs back at least through April 10.
“I find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each of the six agencies engaged in a prohibited personnel practice,” board member Raymond A. Limon wrote in the order to reinstate the workers on Tuesday.
The board’s stay order was a response to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which began investigating the firings and requested the stay Friday.
“I am very grateful the MSPB has agreed to postpone these six terminations,” special counsel Hampton Dellinger said in a statement. “These stays represent a small sample of all the probationary employees who have been fired recently so our work is far from done. Agency leaders should know that OSC will continue to pursue allegations of unlawful personnel actions, which can include asking MSPB for relief for a broader group of fired probationary employees.”
“I urge agency leaders to voluntarily and immediately rescind any and every unlawful termination of probationary employees,” Dellinger added.
According to the OSC, evidence indicates the agencies improperly used the probationary status of the workers to fire them “without affording them the substantive rights and due process to which they are entitled.”
“If agencies wish to terminate probationary employees not for performance or conduct, but as part of a general restructuring or downsizing, they must initiate a reduction in force (RIF) and follow the relevant procedures for that process,” Dellinger wrote in the stay request.
Dellinger was suddenly fired by the Trump administration earlier this month, but he sued because the law says a special counsel can only be fired by the president for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
A federal judge reinstated Dellinger while his lawsuit is heard in court.
The investigation continues into the firings at the departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture.
The order blocking the firing of the six federal probationary workers requires the workers to be restored to the positions they held prior to the probationary termination.
It blocks any changes in the workers duties and responsibilities and bars the agencies form imposing any requirements on them which are not “required of other employees of comparable position, salary, or grade level.”
Democracy Forward and the Alden Law Group represented the fired federal workers.
“The Merit Systems Protection Board’s decision to grant this stay is the correct result of a clearly unlawful and massively disruptive action by the Trump administration. We will continue to urge the Office of the Special Counsel and the MSPB to follow the law, protect all federal workers, investigate misconduct, and uphold the independence and integrity of our civil service,” Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said.
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