Summary
The Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that oversees illegal actions taken against federal workers, ruled that the mass firings of probationary federal workers (those in a trial period after being hired) are likely illegal.
The decision, affecting 6 cases, found that the terminations lacked individualized cause, violating federal rules.
OSC head Hampton Dellinger stated, “Firing probationary employees without individualized cause appears contrary to a reasonable reading of the law.”
This ruling could challenge the legality of nearly all such dismissals, opening the door for broader legal action.
It’s kind of funny (the sad kind of funny) that people with years of legal studies and experience have to meet and formally rule that something blatantly illegal to the point of stupidity is… well… illegal.
“If I have a made-up position that my own government admits is not an official one, can I go ahead and randomly fire thousands of people?”
“A ha! Good question, let’s see what my copy of The Legal System for Dummies says!”
It’s kind of funny (the sad kind of funny) that people with years of legal studies and experience have to meet and formally rule that something blatantly illegal to the point of stupidity is… well… illegal.
Well yeah - that’s how it works. If you don’t care about law and rules you just do shit. The people who enforce the rules have to follow them and go through processes - and by gum that’s time and work! (And who wants to do work? Definitely none of the judges and lawyers I’ve met lol)
If they imminent domain your house to build a turnpike to siphon off money to foreign investors - that’s on you to put the time and effort into fighting it. If they run voucher programs and charter school scams that benefit their friends - well, they have other friends who often are the ones supposed to enforce the rules. They act, you have to pull yourself together and react. How can you fight an illegal eviction if you’re too busy trying to find a new place to sleep?
It’s that old idea that the state has a monopoly on violence.
I found out yesterday the government employees who received a promotion are also put on probation. Someone I know was fired after 20years of service just for the crime of being a good enough employee to deserve a promotion.
So they didn’t even just limit it to new-hire probationary employees, but also included people who just entered a new title after being an employee for years?
So so so fucking dumb.
If we still have a functioning government and legal system after all of this is said and done, the federal government will be paying out billions of dollars in (completely reasonable) lawsuits.
Super efficient.
It’s because there would be an even bigger immediate legal shit show if they fired anyone who wasn’t probationary. They only fired who they could get their hands on right now.
Was probably put on “supervisory probation” which is for all new supervisors. I.e., its not just an increase in pay due to increased skills/duties.
I know someone in the same boat and I was wondering if they would get caught in all this stupidity as well.
At some point, all of this is going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money in legal fees and settlements.
It will either cost a lot in legal fees, or a lot in every fucking thing is broken everywhere and most services that were already busting at the seams to somewhat operate will just pop like melons under a giant truck tire.
Porque no los dos?
I’m pretty sure anyone coming back, or that wants to ever join again will ask for more pay due to the fuckery and uncertainty it causes.
I mean, yeah. Part of the low pay inherent in U.S. government jobs is the baked-in assumption that it’s one of the most stable jobs around. Once that assumption goes out the window, the government will have to pay more to make up for the loss of that major perk.
So each fired employee saves, let’s say, $75,000. Then each sues the government and wins a $250,000 settlement, and gets their job back. Of course the government spends $300,000 on lawyers for each case. The savings practically leap into our pockets!
It’s an ouroborus - a self feeding problem that will always be able to Boogeyman the problem it caused. Those employees will then be painted as wasting money by tying up courts for settlements, decried like the McDonald’s coffee incident all over again.
They deserve to get every penny of that too; it’s a stupidity tax.
Don’t forget that the money isn’t going to be circulating in the economy either so those taxes are right out.
So, arrest him?
Yeah, his income level puts him on the “petty fine” tier.
I will accept no less than 99.99% of his net worth.
How about we chop him up into 10,000 pieces, and give you all but 1?
But the DOGE guys are so cool. That guy is the next Tony Stark with a totally huge penis. And those children running the day to day workings of DOGE definitely slay pussy. Not punchable faces at all!
Yeah, but, what are you going to do about it? Trump is above the law and Elon certainly isn’t going to be fined, let alone go to jail, over this. Courts and lawyers can cry all they want, who’s going to enforce it? Nobody, that’s who. So sure, Point out they’re doing illegal things - the law doesn’t seem to matter to those in charge any more.
Get that defeatism out of here. They’re only above the law if we let them be. To date, the Trump administration has backed off when a judge rules against them. Sure, they then try to come up with new, illegal shit to do. But the courts definitely still have a place in putting the brakes on it.
I’m sure they’ll stop right away!
Oh man. They’re gonna get it now!!! No way they get out of this without absolutely anything happening and just continue to do what they’ve been doing!!
Gee, imagine that!
Isn’t it a good thing that this bureaucracy, which so many rail against, is what keeps corporate-fascism in check?
It is. That’s why the corporate fascists are trying to demonize and dismantle it. There’s a reason Musk started with the ones that were investigating his companies.
Although keeping it in check will likely require the authorities to obey the findings of these agencies. They’ll be getting conflicting orders from the MAGA admin. That’s the constitutional crisis in a nutshell — if authorities side with MAGA, then it becomes a coup.
#fuckin’ lol
“oversight”
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