The firings come as agencies across government are purging employees in their probationary status from their rolls and the Trump administration is deploying a bevy of tools to slash their workforces.
On President Trump’s first day in office, OPM instructed agencies across government to collect names of probationary employees. Those workers typically were hired within the last one-to-two years, depending on their hiring mechanism. Agencies have since gathered lists of those employees and delivered them to OPM, and some subsequently sent notices to staff reminding them of their status and their vulnerability to rapid firings.
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 least at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Small Business Administration, Education Department, General Services Administration and, now, OPM itself.
Around 250 employees at OPM were hired within the last year, according to government data. An exact number of people terminated Thursday could not be immediately determined.
“The agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the ag ..
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