Firms Seek to Reinstate Staff Fired by Six Federal Agencies (1)

Four law firms urged a federal appeals panel to temporarily reinstate thousands of federal workers the Trump administration dismissed at six agencies in recent weeks.

In a notice of appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which mediates disputes between federal agencies and their employees, Brown Goldstein Levy, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Gilbert Employment Law PC, and James & Hoffman argued that the thousands of workers they’re representing in a proposed class action were illegally fired without cause, notice, or severance.

The appeals, filed between Feb. 28 and March 4, were publicly announced Thursday.

The proposed classes include federal employees from the Departments of Homeland Security, Interior, and Veterans Affairs, who were terminated on the basis that they were in a probationary or trial period, the firms said.

The administration’s “unprecedented” mass terminations constituted a constructive reduction in force, which requires government agencies to consider an employee’s tenure, performance, and veteran status when making termination decisions, according to the workers.

Federal regulations typically require 60 days advance notice of termination in a RIF. However, the Trump administration abruptly terminated thousands of workers and disregarded their key protections, they said.

“These workers were terminated without the protections afforded them under the law, and we will ensure that their voices are heard,” Daniel Rosenthal, a partner at James & Hoffman, said in a statement. “Probationary employees have rights in a reduction in force – rights that federal agencies violated in carrying out these mass terminations.”