Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hi Everyone,

This has been another week where decades happen. Apologies for omitting state-and-local stories; if I have a moment next week I’ll try and do a roundup for you. But this edition of the Digest is focused exclusively on unpacking the sweeping changes the nascent Trump administration is effecting across the federal workforce through executive orders and agency memoranda. I’ve grouped these efforts into broad categories for you which should give you a sense of the week’s major stories. (Additionally, I’ve circled back to two of the items I highlighted briefly in the introduction to last week’s Digest before I shifted my focus to the federal hiring freeze.)

Stay strong and stay in touch.

Solidarity,

Sam

OMB Spending “Pause”

On January 27th, OMB circulated an internal memo (available through the Washington Post) to the heads of all Executive Departments and Agencies, requiring that "each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs [… and i]n the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal."*

As we're all aware, both governmental organizations at the state-and-local level and also civil society organizations include federal financing in their budgets, either directly or indirectly. This new policy from OMB may have a significant impact on finances across the public service legal space-which may in turn affect those organizations' ability to recruit and retain their staff. As a result, I’ve been monitoring the developing fate of this “pause” quite closely this week.

Here’s what’s happened to-date:

• Nonprofits and multiple states launched lawsuits challenging the spending “pause”.

• The district judge assigned the nonprofit lawsuit granted an administrative stay on the executive branch’s spending “pause” pending a full hearing on 3 Feb.

• OMB issued a statement rescinding its 27 Jan memo declaring the “spending pause”.

• The White House Press Secretary announced “This [OMB act] is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? To end any confusion created by the court’s injunction.”

• The district judge assigned the states’ lawsuit “signaled he agreed the OMB’s rescission of its Monday night announcement did not moot the motion filed by 22 states and Washington, D.C.[: …] ‘[AG RI,] I think, has convinced me that that while the piece of paper may not exist, that there’s sufficient evidence that the defendants collectively are acting consistent with that directive[.]’”

“Fork in the Road” Deferred Resignation Plan

• “Fork in the Road: Deferred Resignation Email to Federal Employees” (OPM Webpage; 28 Jan 25)

  • “Fork in the Road” FAQ (OPM Webpage; 30 Jan 25)

    “The federal workforce is expected to undergo significant near-term changes. As a result of these changes (or for other reasons), you may wish to depart the federal government on terms that provide you with sufficient time and economic security to plan for your future-and have a nice vacation.”

• “Guidance Regarding Deferred Resignation Program” (OPM Memo; 28 Jan 25)

• Federal Workers Urged To Reject Trump Buyout (Newsweek; 29 Jan 25)

  The president has no authority to make that offer," Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said on the Senate floor Tuesday. "There's no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work.

Strategies for Terminating Federal Workers

• Probationary “Purge”

  • Guidance on Probationary Periods, Administrative Leave and Details (OPM Memo; 20 Jan 25)

    “Probationary periods are an essential tool for agencies to assess employee performance and manage staffing levels. Employees on probationary periods can be terminated during that period without triggering appeal rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). …No later than January 24, 2025, agencies should identify all employees on probationary periods, who have served less than a year in a competitive service appointment, or who have served less than two years in an excepted service appointment, and send a report to OPM listing all such employees[.]”

  • Probationary Federal Employees Targeted for Mass Purge (The American Prospect; 29 Jan 25)

    “Below is the copy of an email received by employees of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was sent to people who “have been identified as an employee likely on a probationary/trial period.” It has been reported that agencies were asked to assemble lists of these newly hired employees. …”As a probationary/trial period employee, the agency has a right to immediately terminate you pursuant to 5 CFR § 315.804,” the email reads. It claims that the termination would occur immediately upon the employee receiving notice. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents unionized EPA officials, sent an email to staffers, urging them to “Please do what you need to protect all of your information regarding your Federal employment … you need to download/print out all pertinent employment information such as your entire eOPF. Do this ASAP!””

• Reclassification

  • Guidance on Implementing President Trump’s Executive Order titled, “Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” (OPM Memo; 27 Jan 25)

  • Trump administration targets wide range of positions for removing federal job protections (Fed News Network; 27 Jan 25)

    “In a memo published Monday morning, Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Charles Ezell detailed how agencies should move forward with implementing President Donald Trump’s executive order on “restoring accountability to policy-influencing positions within the federal workforce,” while also announcing the suspension of portions of the Biden administration’s regulations aiming to prevent a return of the Trump administration’s previous Schedule F policy. …Trump administration officials have stated that the purpose of reclassifying career federal employees in policy-related roles is a way to give agencies more flexibility, and to be able to remove employees who are not carrying out the president’s agenda. The number of federal employees the new guidance could impact is uncertain. Some have said tens of thousands of feds could be reclassified, while other estimates put the number of impacted employees in the hundreds of thousands. Based on the language of the new memo, the Trump administration’s interpretation of “policy-influencing” positions appears to be relatively far-reaching, according to a source familiar with OPM policy and regulations who agreed to speak to Federal News Network on background. The source said the categories identified in the memo can be construed quite broadly — especially considering the memo’s encouragement for agencies to expand the interpretation further. Because of that, it’s likely the ultimate number of reclassified positions would reach the higher end of previous estimates. In an effort to prevent efforts similar to Schedule F from returning in a future administration, the Biden administration previously finalized regulations in April 2024 to reinforce civil service protections for career federal employees…The new memo from the Trump administration, however, described parts of the April 2024 final rule as “procedural obstacles,” and changed the interpretation of the rule to say “policy-influencing” roles do cover career federal employees. OPM’s memo pointed to certain portions of the final regulations that were issued under the authority of the president, saying that Trump’s executive order “immediately superseded” those portions of the final regulations.

    The Trump administration’s guidance said the Merit Systems Protection Board cannot hear appeals of career federal employees who are reclassified, due to the same interpretations of the regulations. The memo also rescinded the Biden administration’s OPM guidance on its final rule reinforcing civil service protections. “Despite this declaration, federal employees who are affected by reclassification should consult with a federal employment attorney on their legal rights,” the Alden Law Group, a federal employment law firm, wrote in a blog post Monday.”

  • CREW, Democracy Forward sue to block Trump’s illegal plan to fire government workers (CREW Press Release; 28 Jan 25)

    “President Trump’s executive order paving the way to convert potentially tens of thousands of merit-based civil servants to at-will employees, enabling political appointees to fire and replace them with loyalists, is unlawful and exceeds the president’s authority, according to a lawsuit filed today in Maryland federal court by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER is represented in the suit by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Democracy Forward.”

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Environmental Justice

• “Initial Guidance Regarding DEIA Executive Orders” (OPM Memo; 21 Jan 25)

• “Guidance Regarding RIFs [Reduction-in-Force] of DEIA Offices” (OPM Memo; 24 Jan 25)

  “In accordance with that order, each agency, department, or commission head shall take action to terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” offices and positions within sixty days” [emphasis added] “However, agencies can and should begin issuing RIF notices to employees of DEIA offices now.” [emphasis added]

• “Initial Guidance Regarding President Trump’s Executive Order Defending Women” (OPM Memo; 29 Jan 25) [2 pages long]

  “In light of Defending Women, each agency should take prompt actions to end all agency programs that use taxpayer money to promote or reflect gender ideology as defined in Section 2(f) of Defending Women. Specifically, agency heads should take the following steps…[n]o later than 5:00pm EST on Friday, January 31 2025:… Review all agency position descriptions and send a notification to all employees whose position description involves inculcating or promoting gender ideology that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all initiatives, offices, and programs that inculcate or promote gender ideology.”