Unions Challenge Mass Firing of Federal Probationary Workers (3)

The government’s chief human resources office lacked authority to fire thousands of probationary federal employees, a group of unions argue in a new lawsuit.

The firings were done pursuant to President Donald Trump‘s goal of shrinking the size of the federal workforce, the complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California says. But only Congress controls and authorizes federal employment and related expenditures, and it determined that each agency is responsible for managing its own employees, the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions argue in the suit.

Last week, agency heads ...