Trump's Personnel Office Directed 25,406 Firings a Judge Held Unlawful, Then Took Over Layoff Appeals
Chapter 1 — The Firings and the Letter That Blamed the Workers
Chapter 2 — Fewer Ways to Fight Back
Chapter 3 — The Protections Trump Signed Away
Chapter 4 — The Merit System Is a Limit on Presidential Power
1 · The Firings and the Letter That Blamed the Workers
1.1 — The Personnel Office Wrote the Letter
1.2 — Fired, Then Called Back
1.3 — What the Judge Found
Trump's Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to fire probationary workers and supplied the termination letter, which blamed each worker's individual performance. Agencies fired 25,406 in less than a month. Judge William Alsup held the directive unlawful and ordered the performance explanation corrected, but he did not order the workers back to work.
We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected
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Agriculture declared that it reinstated all 5,714 of its fired probationary workers with back pay and an initial period of paid leave upon returning to pay status. A merit board member who paused Agriculture firings found reasonable grounds to believe a prohibited personnel practice had occurred. The nuclear-security agency rescinded 150 of 177 termination notices.
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The Office of Personnel Management told agencies whom to fire and supplied the termination letter. Judge Alsup first blocked that conduct provisionally, then held the directive and resulting terminations unlawful on the merits. His final relief corrected the false performance explanation without restoring the lost jobs.
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2 · Fewer Ways to Fight Back
2.1 — Trump Fired the Special Counsel and a Merit Board Member
2.2 — The Personnel Office Now Hears the Appeals
Trump fired Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, whose office had opposed the firings, and Cathy Harris, the Board member who paused them; Judge Alsup found the available remedies impaired in September 2025. The administration won the Board-removal case on the merits, and Harris's Supreme Court petition was denied in June 2026.
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On September 2, 2026, the Office of Personnel Management became the forum for covered new layoff appeals, decisions about fitness for government work and specified probationary matters. Older covered appeals and statutory Foreign Service layoff rights remained with the separate merit board. Both agencies' leaders can be removed by the President, but the transfer puts these appeals inside the central personnel office.
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3 · The Protections Trump Signed Away
3.1 — Approximately 7,600 Career Jobs Moved Outside Normal Dismissal Protections
3.2 — Excluding Veterans' Care, Food Inspection and Federal Building Management
Trump revived a category that removes normal dismissal procedures and appeals from covered career jobs, then transferred approximately 7,600 positions into it. These remain merit-based career jobs, but the rule replaces statutory protections against practices such as whistleblower reprisal with internal agency policies. Schedule Policy/Career employees retain reduction-in-force procedures and appeal rights. OPM expressly said the schedule should not be used to avoid those procedures when reducing a workforce.
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Trump used a national-security exception to exclude major departments and agencies from federal collective bargaining law. Congress supplied that power, and the administration won an important appellate ruling against a retaliation challenge. The exclusion still removed statutory bargaining protections from the listed workers.
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4 · The Merit System Is a Limit on Presidential Power
4.1 — The Pattern Reached Beyond the First Firings
4.2 — Authority to Manage Does Not Erase the Rules
4.3 — What the President and His Administration Did
The same administration pursued further ways to reduce staffing. A court ruled against specific FEMA staffing actions, and the government settled its shutdown-firing case without admitting liability. The personnel office also won a separate case outright.
Presidents have substantial authority over the executive branch, and Congress supplied important powers used here. Courts also channel many individual personnel claims through statutory review systems. Those principles do not excuse an agency's exercise of power a merits judgment held it did not possess.
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Trump's signatures changed career and bargaining protections, while his personnel office directed mass firings a federal judge held unlawful and later took over covered appeals. Courts supplied corrections and limits. The charge is abuse of personnel power on a scale that weakened the merit system itself.
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Full Source Index
Primary Sources
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- [4]U.S. Office of Personnel Management, final rule, "Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service," 91 Fed. Reg. 5580 (Feb. 6, 2026), effective March 9, 2026 (FR doc 2026-02375) · agency final rule with preamble responses to comments
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- [22]Memorandum from Charles Ezell, Acting Director, and Andrew Kloster, General Counsel, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, to Heads and Acting Heads of Departments and Agencies, "Legality of Deferred Resignation Program" (Feb. 4, 2025), with model agreement annexed · agency legal memorandum and contract template
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- [38]Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees, No. 24A1174, On Application for Stay (July 8, 2025) (Sotomayor, J., concurring; Jackson, J., dissenting) · Supreme Court order on application for stay
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- [41]National Archives, Milestone Documents, "Pendleton Act (1883)" — An Act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States, January 16, 1883; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1996; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives · National Archives milestone document description and archival citation