DoD placing probationary employees on admin leave before mass firings
The Defense Department is putting probationary employees on administrative leave as they are waiting for more guidance or before they are terminated.
The Defense Department has started placing probationary employees on administrative leave while they are awaiting official action by their organizations or until their termination takes effect.
According to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) local, approximately 20 civilian probationary employees at the Defense Health Agency were summoned to a conference room at the agency’s headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia, where they were informed that they were being terminated. They were told to hand over their ID cards and laptops before being walked out of the building.
“They were escorted out to where there were security cars, and a line of security guards were standing with arms folded,” the AFGE told Federal News Network.
While those probationary employees were told that their termination letters would be sent out to them, they were also informed that they were being placed on administrative leave until the official termination date at the end of March.
The Defense Health Agency didn’t provide the exact number of employees fired so far, but the agency told Federal News Network that dismissals have been limited to headquarters positions “that are administrative in nature.”
In a memo signed by Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Stephen Ferrara that was sent to the fired DHA employees, the agency cited the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance stating that “an appointment is not final until the probationary period is over” and that “until the probationary period has been completed, a probationer has the burden to demonstrate why it is in the public interest for the government to finalize an appointment to the civil service for this particular individual.”
The memo added that OPM has “emphasized that individual employee performance measurement should be aligned with and support organizational goals and focus employee efforts on achieving organizational and group goals” and that OPM has directed agencies to “consider whether an employee’s performance is in the best interest of the government.”
“Based on the OPM guidance referenced above, the agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest,” the memo sent out to the fired DHA workers reads.
While the termination notice cited employees’ failure to meet performance standards, one DHA probationary employee who was among those laid off this week told Federal News Network that he had received a good first review and had strong references from both his immediate supervisor and a senior official in the organization. He is now appealing his termination through the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), and his local representative.
Meanwhile, one Navy civilian employee who is a retired officer with more than two decades of service told Federal News Network he was placed on administrative leave for three weeks but no further guidance has been provided ever since he turned in his computer and was escorted out of the building on Tuesday.
“I don’t even have good guidance. [Human Resources] told me they don’t have anything to give me and that I’m on admin leave. The HR is reactive, and because this has never been done before, they’re scrambling,” he said.
At the same time, a different Navy organization is preparing for layoffs, but no probationary employees have been placed on leave so far.
Last month, the office of the secretary of defense said the department was preparing to reduce its civilian workforce by 5-8%, and announced that approximately 5,400 probationary employees would be laid off. The Defense Department initially postponed the terminations of its probationary employees to assess national security and readiness implications of the firings.
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