Agencies have until Noon on Wednesday to send the Office of Personnel Management a list of employees on probation and say whether or not they want to keep them.
Federal sources confirm OPM asked agencies to submit their lists and gave them a 200 character limit to explain why the employee should stay in government.
One source, who requested anonymity to discuss pre-decisional information, said while OPM didn’t specifically say employees would be fired if agencies indicated they did not want to retain them, there was an underlying message that these employees were on their way out.
“Not only are probationary employees scared, but now managers also are nervous because they have to explain why they want to keep their employees,” the source said.
OPM is providing an exception for probationary employees who were hired through the Pathways program. But there are several other programs, including Schedule A, mid-career employees, spouses of members of the military and veterans transitioning out of the military, that were brought in under a probationary period that are at risk.
Other exceptions include national security and public safety positions.
The source said in more than 20 years in government, they had never had OPM request a list of probationary employees.
Data on how many employees are under a probationary period is not readily available. The latest data from Fedscope is from March 2024 and shows more than 220,000 federal employees were within their one-year probationary period. That number may indicate generally how many newly hired employees are in the federal workforce at any given time.
According to the March 2024 data, about 56,000 — more than a quarter — of the new federal employees were working at the Veterans Health Administration at the time. More than 14,000 employees, or about 6.5%, were new hires at the IRS.
But sources say the number of probationary employees changes with each pay period, making it difficult to know exact numbers.
This request to agencies comes about two weeks after the White House asked for a list of all probationary employees.
The rules governing probationary employees are fairly straightforward.
Under federal statue, federal employees with a competitive service appointment are considered to be in a probationary period during their first year of service. For employees with an excepted service appointment, the probationary period can last for up to two years.
Legal experts say agencies have the right to dismiss employees on probation at any time for almost any reason and there isn’t much these employees can do.
The Merit Systems Protection Board says probationary employees have very limited appeal rights. “They may appeal a termination based on political affiliation or marital status, and they may appeal a termination based on conditions arising before employment on the grounds that the termination was not in accordance with regulations.”
But generally, employees who are removed during their probationary periods are let go for conduct or performance reasons. The move to potentially dismiss employees who are on probation without cause is highly unusual. The concern, the source said, is this Trump administration is just trying to reduce workforce numbers.
The source says there are growing concerns that if not enough federal employees leave between the deferred resignation program and possibly the exodus of probationary employees, the Trump administration is going to pursue a governmentwide reduction in force (RIF).
Another source said a governmentwide RIF is likely based on the most recent communications from OPM.
“How long have we been talking about not having enough young employees or employees at the early career stage? Any gains we’ve made over the last few years will be wiped out,” the source said. “And why would anyone new come in now? This will have an awful chilling effect.”
The post OPM asks agencies to justify keeping probationary employees first appeared on Federal News Network.