Who Are the Probationary Federal Workers Getting Cut Under Trump?

In news about the Trump administration’s job-slashing effort, one class of federal workers comes up repeatedly: “probationary” employees.At the Internal Revenue Service, 6,700 people with that status are being let go.At the Department of Health and Human Services, reports indicated the total could be 5,200.

The Pentagon announced last week it would terminate 5,400.At the Forest Service, 3,400 may be cut.These workers, who generally have fewer than one or two years of service in their current positions, are particular targets among civil servants because they have the weakest protections.

Here’s what else we know about the people being shown the door.What does being on ‘probation’ mean?Under the federal code, civil servants remain on probation for one year after they are hired, promoted, demoted or otherwise reassigned.Those in the “excepted” service, meaning they don’t go through normal competitive selection processes, can be on probation for two years.While on probation, a federal employee can essentially be fired at will, although their superiors need to show that the employee’s “work performance or conduct fails during this period to demonstrate his fitness or his qualifications for continued employment.” (Many termination notices included language about the employee’s supposedly inadequate performance, typically without evidence.) Probationary employees may also appeal if they believe they were fired for partisan political reasons or on the basis of unlawful discrimination.After employees have completed their probation period, they gain more rights to appeal a termination to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Under those rules for due process, the agency must show that an employee wasn’t doing the job, or that the job was no longer necessary.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit...