President Donald Trump sent a March 20 memorandum to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Charles Ezell that delegates authority to OPM – the Federal government’s human resources (HR) agency – to fire Federal workers who have cleared their probationary employee status.
The memo – which has a subject line reading “Strengthening the Suitability and Fitness of the Federal Workforce” – gives Ezell and OPM the authority to make “final suitability determinations” and “take suitability actions” on employees in the executive branch.
Specifically, the memo gives OPM authority to make “post-appointment conduct” determinations. The post-appointment period occurs once an employee has been fully onboarded to an agency after serving their probationary period.
Trump’s memo gives OPM the authority to issue directives to agency leaders regarding firing agency employees based on conduct.
“A suitability action can include a directive by OPM to the head of an executive department or agency to remove an employee who does not meet the criteria defined by OPM’s regulations,” the memo reads.
OPM issued a memo to leaders of Federal agencies on Jan. 20 asking them to gather lists of probationary employees – or employees with less than two years on the job. On Feb. 14, OPM asked leaders to fire certain probationary employees from the lists agencies submitted.
Two Federal judges found OPM’s directives unlawful and ordered that agencies reinstate fired probationary employees while legal proceedings continue.
Trump’s memo to Ezell appears to be in response to rulings from those Federal judges as it attempts to expand the director of OPM’s authority to issue directives firing probationary employees.
The memo gives Ezell authority to make rules allowing OPM to comply with Trump’s requests. As part of the rulemaking process, Trump asks for OPM to consider requiring agencies to consult the HR agency before making firing decisions based on conduct after an employee is appointed.
Trump’s memo also gives Ezell authority over any process to fire an individual employee, mandating that agency leadership complies with OPM’s decision within five “work days” of a decision being made.
