PSJD News Digest – February 7, 2025

February 7, 2025 at 3:36 pm · Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress

Hi Everyone,

The news continues to pile up. I’ve pulled back from as-it-happens updates on NALP Connect to try and provide more of a week-end synthesis. Let me know how that works for you. The Public Service Section had a useful “huddle” last Monday where we sketched out a helpful framework for understanding the dramatic changes burning across the federal administrative state. Since we talked that framework through (on Monday), I need to add an additional prong to the “2025 Federal Reductions in Force” list, based on a new OPM memo regarding “performance management data” (see below). (For background on each of these categories, please consult the last two editions of the Digest.)

Stay strong and stay in touch.

Solidarity,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

  • Donald Trump to Sell Off Half of All Federal Property: What to Know (Newsweek; 5 Feb 2025)

    “The General Services Administration (GSA) reportedly sent out notice on Tuesday that it plans to sell half of the federal property it manages—a move that appears to contradict Donald Trump's and Elon Musk's plans to get federal employees to return to in-person work in the office.”

  • Can Trump Dismantle the Department of Education? Here’s What to Know (Time; 6 Feb 2025)

    “President Donald Trump is reportedly finalizing an Executive Order that would attempt to dismantle the Department of Education, which would fulfill a campaign promise as he seeks to shrink the size of the federal government. As Trump tests the limits of his presidential authority, experts say the abolishment of the agency would be difficult, though not impossible. ”

OMB Spending “Pause”

2025 Federal Reductions in Force

“Performance Management” (NEW)

  • Request for Agency Performance Management Data (OPM Memo; 6 Feb 2024)

    “Pursuant to the President’s direction…OPM is developing new performance metrics for evaluating the federal workforce…no later than Friday, March 7, 2025, all agencies should submit data regarding their performance management plans and policies—including those contained in collective bargaining agreements—and identify any barriers to ensuring that 1) agency performance plans make meaningful distinctions based on relative employee performance and 2) the agency has the ability to swiftly terminate poor performing employees who cannot or will not improve.”

Hiring Freeze

Probationary Employee “Purge”

Reclassification of Career Employees

Administrative Leave for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Environmental Justice Employees

  • All the ways Elon Musk is breaking the law, explained by a law professor (Vox; 6 Feb 2025)

    “[Q:] One thing that really has struck me about the new administration’s tactics so far is this extremely aggressive use of paid administrative leave. Career officials who’ve resisted DOGE’s demands have been quickly put on administrative leave. So were government officials working on DEI. Nearly all of the staff of USAID, the US Agency for International Development, has met that fate. [A:] This is very strange and likely illegal. Federal law limits administrative leave to 10 workdays per year. So they will be exhausting the cap very quickly for many of these people. Normal administrations use it the way normal businesses use it, as a patch for a variety of problems….This is making strategic use of it on a vastly grander scale and there’s simply no legal authority for that.”

Deferred Resignation (“Fork in the Road”)