A federal judge ruled on Sept. 12 that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had overstepped its authority when it directed federal agencies to terminate probationary workers en masse due to job performance issues.
The ruling follows a lawsuit filed by some federal worker unions and nonprofits against the OPM in February, which sought to challenge the firing of thousands of probationary workers across six federal agencies.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup determined that the OPM had acted illegally when it directed agencies to fire probationary workers “under false pretense” that the terminations were based on job performance.
“That directive was unlawful. The means used to enforce terminations were also unlawful,” Alsup stated in a 38-page ruling….