Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger today released the following statement after OSC complied with an order by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) requesting the names of probationary employees terminated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
OSC last Friday requested a 45-day “stay," or pause, of over five thousand probationary employee terminations at USDA that began on February 13, 2025. In its request, OSC explained that it found reasonable grounds to believe that USDA engaged in prohibited personnel practices (PPPs) and violated civil service law in carrying out the terminations. OSC requested the MSPB consider the broader stay in light of a previously granted stay of a former USDA employee terminated during a probationary period. A redacted version of the broader stay request can be found here.
“OSC requested this stay because the thousands of probationary terminations at USDA appear to have been carried out in a manner inconsistent with federal personnel laws," said Special Counsel Dellinger. “In most cases, probationary employees may only be terminated if their specific, individual performance or conduct demonstrates that they are unfit for federal employment. If agencies wish to terminate probationary employees as part of a general downsizing, they must initiate a reduction in force and follow the relevant procedures for that process. These are not merely technicalities; they implicate federal employees' substantive and procedural rights."
Upon receipt of OSC's stay request, the MSPB on Monday ordered an additional brief including all the names of impacted probationary employees. OSC has complied with MSPB's Order.