FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2025
CONTACT
Peter Jenkins (202) 265-4189 pjenkins@peer.org
Trump Acting to Execute Federal “Enemies List”
Involuntary Leaves, Reassignments, and Mass Probation Revocations
Washington, DC — The Trump White House is wasting no time deploying tools for firing, suspending, or marginalizing federal employees, according to an Inauguration Day memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The memo highlights punitive techniques in ways where targeted employees enjoy limited rights to challenge removal reassignment to non-jobs or being sent home on unlimited administrative leave, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which posted the OPM memo.
The January 20, 2025, memo from Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell, to “Heads and Acting Heads of Departments and Agencies” spells out “Guidance on Probationary Periods, Administrative Leave and Details.” The memo directs all agencies to –
- Compile and forward to OPM lists of all employees still in their probationary period. Probationary employees may be terminated at will as their civil service rights do not kick in until they pass probation (a period of one or two years, depending upon position);
- Consider putting employees on “temporary detail” and assigned to “unclassified duties” (often, a non-job) to “provide additional flexibilities” to agencies wishing to “undertake reorganization efforts and close offices”; and
- Direct agencies to delay adopting rules now required under new regulations limiting the use of administrative leave where employees are sent home for extended periods.
“Legally, federal agencies are generally free to redeploy employees unless it is done for an improper motive, such as gender discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, or partisan bias,” said PEER Senior Counsel Peter Jenkins, noting that the Trump White House appears to be using these personnel tactics much more aggressively this time around. “On this and the other attacks on Federal employees, PEER will be advising them how they can legally fight back.”
The Trump White House has also directed that all federal employees working within diversity and inclusion programs be placed on administrative leave. Congress outlawed extended use of administrative leave in 2016, but OPM failed to adopt implementing regulations until PEER sued the agency. Last month, OPM finally adopted those regulations, but agencies have until this September to incorporate these regulations into their own rules.
The new OPM memo directs agencies to avoid adopting those rules until the September 13th deadline; however, the 2016 Administrative Leave Act clearly states that such leave should not exceed ten workdays for any civil servant in one calendar year.
“These bullying tactics are designed to disrupt important government operations and induce employees to resign or retire,” added PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse. “Federal workers are sure to push back against any efforts by this administration to overstep the law.”
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Look at brand new regulations governing use of administrative leave