موقع وجه أفريقيا موقع وجه أفريقيا هو موقع مهتم بمتابعة التطورات في القارة الأفريقية
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Muhamad Yehia
An independent board that looks at federal workforce complaints has decided to temporarily reinstate six employees who were fired by the Trump administration, in one of the first direct rebukes of the president’s moves to cut back the federal workforce starting with the termination of thousands of probationary employees.
The board found Trump’s cuts are likely unlawful.
One of the reinstated federal workers, for instance, was a disabled veteran who lost his job the same day his supervisor commended him for going “above and beyond” at work, according to the case filings.
The six federal workers who complained worked at various executive branch agencies and were all in their probationary periods — meaning they were in the first several months of jobs before receiving more worker protections, such as being unable to be fired without cause. Lawyers for the workers have alleged the Trump administration’s firings of probationary employees are unfairly seizing upon a loophole in the federal civil service as a way to carry out the president’s agenda.
The workers’ case is likely to be the first among many testing — and pushing back against —the Trump administration’s mass firings. Thousands of probationary workers have lost their jobs already, at agencies including the Forest Service, Energy and Education departments, and the IRS, which is in the heart of tax filing season.
Lawyers representing federal workers on Tuesday pledged they’d try to expand the board’s actions to cover all probationary employees who’ve lost their jobs.
More on the reinstatement: The Merit Systems Protection Board’s decision late Tuesday puts on hold the six employees’ terminations for 45 days, giving an independent special counsel more time to investigate their claims. That official, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, is at the same time fighting to keep his own job after Trump fired him.
“I am very grateful the MSPB has agreed to postpone these six terminations,” Dellinger said in statement on Tuesday night. “These stays represent a small sample of all the probationary employees who have been fired recently so our work is far from done.
