Trump administration moves to limit appeals for fired federal employees
The Trump administration is attempting to make it more difficult for fired federal employees to regain their jobs, according to a government plan released on Monday, by restricting their right to appeal their termination to an independent board.
The Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s HR office, proposed ending the right of fired federal employees to contest their dismissal before the independent Merit Systems Protection Board, as per the plan. Instead, dismissed workers would need to appeal to OPM, an office whose director reports to U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Merit Systems Protection Board mediates disputes between federal workers and their employers. The board experienced a surge in new cases after Trump took office for the second time. The board’s caseload increased by 266% from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, according to government records, compared to the same period the year before.
If implemented, the proposal would build on Trump’s previous efforts to decrease the size of the federal government. Trump has made mass layoffs of government employees a central focus of his second term. At the same time, he has weakened avenues for those same workers to contest their terminations, including by removing members of government offices that enforce job protections for federal employees.
The U.S. government reduced its workforce by 317,000 federal employees in 2025, OPM Director Scott Kupor said late last year. Kupor told Reuters that only a fraction of those who left were fired, with the majority choosing to accept a buyout or leave voluntarily. Reuters could not independently verify the accuracy of Kupor’s statement.
OPM will be fair and impartial when addressing complaints from fired federal employees, said McLaurine Pinover, a spokeswoman for the office. The goal is to provide the workers with "timely correction when errors occur," she said, adding that agencies should be able to "restructure responsibly and fairly."
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