Prof. Nick Bednar ’16 Quoted in New York Times About the Dropped Inquiry Over Improperly Fired Federal Employees

Professor Nick Bednar ’16 was quoted in the New York Times about the independent government agency charged with protecting federal workers’ rights dropping its inquiry into the more than 2,000 complaints that the Trump administration had improperly fired probationary employees. The agency, the Office of Special Counsel, told affected employees that it had concluded that it could not pursue the claims of unlawful termination in part because they were fired not for individual cause, but en masse as part of the administration’s “governmentwide effort to reduce the federal service.” The decision effectively eliminates one of the few avenues government employees had to challenge their terminations. Experts in federal employment law said the justifications to end the investigations were baffling at best. Prof. Bednar said that on one hand, the office argues that it is not moving forward with investigations into whether these probationary employees were removed unlawfully for poor performance because they were fired as a class and not as individuals. But, he pointed out, the message also said the mass firings were not part of an official government reorganization process known as a reduction in force, which allows for mass firings. He said the office appeared to be trying to claim that the firings were done legally another way. “And I do not know what that third unknown way is,” he said.