Fired Federal Workers Cite Performance Claims in Class Suit (3)

A group of fired federal probationary workers is suing the federal government over their terminations, claiming that the mass firings must be reversed, in part because none of the workers were let go because of poor performance.

The summary terminations by the Trump administration at agencies that include the Department of Veterans Affairs and Internal Revenue Service amounted to an illegal reduction in force and violated the plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment due process rights, according to the proposed class action complaint filed Tuesday with the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The workers say that there was never any documented negative feedback or allegations of poor performance by their supervisors, and that their termination letters didn’t identify performance deficiencies.

By failing to provide these justifications, their terminations violated due process rights articulated in the Code of Federal Regulations, the eight named plaintiffs say on behalf of a proposed class that could include more than 4,000 fired employees. Defendants included the new secretaries of the departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, Commerce, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the acting administrator of the US General Services Administration.

The plaintiffs said that they’re suffering the “irreparable harm of the stigma and shame” associated with being terminated by the US government for alleged poor performance. Each was fired on or after Jan. 20, the day Trump was sworn into office to start his second term.

The complaint notes that each of the plaintiffs has attempted to exhaust administrative remedies by filing claims with the Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board, but say that doing so is futile, and that what is needed is a court order requiring the agencies to “return all affected employees to work for at least the pendency of this litigation.”

In addition to reinstatement, the workers seek a jury trial and a remedy that “otherwise makes them whole.”

The proposed class action is related to a Feb. 24 complaint from a fired worker with the Department of Veterans Affairs office of general counsel, who alleged that she received an electronic communication Feb. 13—one week after she received messages from her supervisor “specifically advising her that she was doing a good job"—informing her that she was being terminated for poor performance.

Spokespeople for the VA, HHS, and GSA said in written statements that their agencies don’t comment on pending litigation. The other defendant departments didn’t immediately respond to questions for comment, and neither did the Department of Justice.

The Center for Employment Justice represents the plaintiffs.

The case is Gober v. Collins, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00714, complaint 3/11/25.