Executive Order on Probationary Periods
 
On April 24, President Trump issued another executive order (EO) attacking federal employees. This one, "Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service," is a transparent attempt to make it easier for the administration to justify removing probationary employees, following its disastrous and bungled mass firings earlier this year. The White House issued a Fact Sheet the same day it issued the EO. 
 
The core idea of this EO is that instead of a probationary employee receiving tenure in the absence of any agency action, the employing agency must now certify that retaining the employee would serve the public interest. One concerning aspect of the EO is OPM's guidance asserting that the EO "immediately superseded" existing regulations that allow agencies to terminate employees only when the employee's performance or conduct is unsatisfactory. In addition, the guidance states:

• Agencies must hold meetings with probationary employees regarding continued service at least 60 days before the end of their probationary periods. 
• Within 30 days of the end of probation, agencies must determine whether to retain an employee. If they want to keep the employee on, agencies must also certify in writing "that such individual's continued employment will advance the public interest." 
• Employees must receive advance notice before they are terminated under these procedures. 
• If agencies fail to certify that an employee should continue employment due to administrative error, they may ask OPM to reinstate the employee within 30 days of termination. 

These requirements will not go into effect until July 23, 2025. The EO directs OPM to initiate rulemaking by May 24 to rescind the current probation regulations and enact new ones consistent with the EO.
 
We are reviewing options for the best strategy to fight back against this EO, which creates unnecessary and inefficient layers of bureaucracy and is obviously designed to further strike fear in our dedicated civil servants.