FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 03, 2025
June 03, 2025
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-374-6491
[email protected]
Administration’s Reforms to Federal Hiring and Firing Rules Violate Law, Union Says
New essay requirement for job applicants and proposed fast-track firing of current workers is administration’s attempt to stack agencies with subservient employees, AFGE says
WASHINGTON – Changes to the federal government’s hiring and firing procedures being implemented and proposed by the Trump administration are glaring violations of existing rules designed to ensure such decisions are based on individual merit and performance and allow for due process, the largest union representing federal government workers said today.
The Office of Personnel Management issued a proposed rule today that would give the agency unprecedented authority to quickly terminate federal employees who have been flagged by their employing agency for failing to meet suitability and fitness requirements for their jobs. Current law requires agencies to notify employees of any proposed removal at least 30 days in advance, while OPM’s proposed rule would require employees to be terminated within five workdays of OPM making its decision.
“The administration is attempting to take rules originally intended to help agencies root out unqualified job applicants and apply them to current employees so it can bypass due process laws and quickly fire workers it claims are no longer suitable for their jobs,” American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said. “This is yet another example of this administration willfully disobeying existing laws to carry out its ideological agenda.”
The proposed rule issued today follows OPM’s Thursday release of a revised hiring plan that, among other things, will require all applicants seeking jobs at GS-5 or above to submit an essay question asking them to identify orders or policies issued by President Trump that they would help implement if hired.
“Federal employees should be hired based on their ability to do the job and their commitment to following the Constitution and other laws – not on their allegiance to any one president,” Kelley said. “These changes to the job applicant process, combined with the proposal to fast-track the firing of federal employees whom OPM deems unsuitable for their positions, should be a red flag to anyone concerned that the administration is attempting to stack federal agencies with subservient employees who will do the administration’s bidding regardless of the law.”
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