# Trump administration revises directive on federal mass firings of federal workers



**By Joey Garrison**

**USA TODAY**

WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration informed federal departments that firings of their probationary workers are up to the agencies ‒ not the Office of Personnel Management.  
  
But Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern California District last Thursday  the OPM lacked authority and acted out or bounds by ordering agencies – including the Education Department, the Small Business Administration and the Energy Department – to fire employees.

“OPM is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees,” adding that “agencies have ultimate decisionmaking authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.”

The move comes after President Donald Trump's administration has moved aggressively in recent weeks to dismiss tens of thousands of recently hired or promoted probationary workers. The terminations were ordered by the OPM ‒ the federal government's human resources agency ‒ in communications last month telling agencies to “separate probationary employees that you have not identified as mission-critical.”

More: 

Before the judge's ruling, the Trump administration last week ordered heads of federal departments and agencies to prepare to initiate "large-scale reductions in force" by March 13 as the administration moves to a new phase of cutting the federal workforce.

These staff reductions are expected to target federal employees with full civil service protection, not just probationary workers,  issued by the OPM and White House Office of Management and Budget. This guidance, unlike the guidance for probationary workers, has not been revised.

_Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison._
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