President Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly walked back his directive to federal agencies to fire thousands of probationary employees, a change driven not by a desire to preserve people’s jobs but an attempt to comply with a judge’s ruling that the way in which he’s been carrying out mass firings is likely illegal.
In revised guidance issued to the heads of federal agencies, the Office of Personnel Management ― the human resources agency of the federal government ― tries to rewrite history by claiming it never actually ordered agencies to fire probationary employees (people who generally have held their jobs for a year or less).
Instead, OPM claims it’s been up to each agency all along to decide who to fire.
“Please note that, by this memorandum, OPM is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees,” reads the updated OPM guidance. “Agencies have ultimate decision-making authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.”
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