Judge orders White House must say firings not due to poor performance

A US district judge in San Francisco ordered the Trump administration to provide probationary workers fired en masse a written statement saying they were not terminated for performance reasons, but as part of a government-wide termination.

Judge William Alsup is overseeing a lawsuit brought by labour unions and nonprofits contesting the mass firings of thousands of probationary workers in February under US President Donald Trump.

In March, Mr Alsup ordered six federal agencies to reinstate probationary workers because their terminations were directed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which did not have the authority to fire workers at any other agency but its own.

The US Supreme Court last week blocked Mr Alsup’s order requiring the administration to return those terminated employees to work, but did not decide whether the firings were unlawful.

Mr Alsup was particularly upset that the firings of probationary workers, many young and early in their careers, followed an OPM template stating that the person had been fired for poor performance.

“Termination under the false pretence of performance is an injury that will persist for the working life of each civil servant,” wrote Mr Alsup in Friday’s order.

“The stain created by OPM’s pretence will follow each employee through their careers and will limit their professional opportunities.”

The administration has defined performance to account for job indispensability as Mr Trump seeks to drastically reduce the federal workforce.

Lawyers for the administration also say that OPM did not order the firings, but Mr Alsup found it was impossible for federal agencies to assess each worker’s performance in only a matter of days.

In Friday’s order, Mr Alsup said the fired workers must receive the written statements by May 8.

If a worker was fired after an individualised evaluation of that employee’s performance or fitness, the agency must submit by May 8 “a declaration, under oath and seal, stating so and providing the individual reasoning underpinning that termination”.

A federal judge in Maryland overseeing a similar complaint brought by 19 states found the administration did not follow laws set out for large-scale layoffs, including 60 days’ advance notice.

A preliminary injunction issued by US District Judge James Bredar ordering reinstatement of the workers was overturned last week by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals.