Trump's efforts to cut staff are facing difficulties.

President Donald Trump's plan to streamline the federal government faces new challenges.

The Hill reported on February 28 that federal judge John Bates ordered four officials in President Donald Trump's administration to explain the legality of their mass layoffs of federal employees and to testify about the transparency of Elon Musk's Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE). Previously, on February 19, the Economic Policy Institute and six labor unions filed a lawsuit alleging DOGE acted beyond its authority.

"Illegal conduct"

In San Francisco, California, federal judge William Alsup ruled on February 27th that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must revoke its directive to fire probationary employees at several federal agencies. Accordingly, the OPM must withdraw its January 20th memo and February 24th email requesting agencies such as the Department of Defense and the Parks and Parks Administration to determine which employees should be fired.

Trump praised billionaire Musk, saying, "Anyone who isn't happy should be kicked out."

According to Axios , Judge Alsup stated that the dismissals could be illegal. He argued that while Congress has granted agencies the power to hire and fire, the OPM (Operations for Professional Management) can only fire its own employees, not those of other agencies. The ruling came after a lawsuit filed by unions and organizations representing federal employees. The plaintiffs alleged that the OPM violated the law by ordering other agencies to terminate the contracts of all probationary employees. According to CNN, an estimated 200,000 probationary employees, often working for less than a year, are employed by federal agencies.

Protests against staff cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency in Illinois (USA) on February 18.

In another development related to downsizing, U.S. Postal Service (USPS) CEO Louis DeJoy has urged employees to ignore rumors that President Trump might unilaterally take control of the agency. Reuters quoted him as emphasizing to the 640,000 employees that the USPS was established under federal law, and therefore the president needs to coordinate with Congress if he wants to change the law.

A new approach?

In a personnel restructuring move, OPM issued an ultimatum forcing a number of its employees to decide whether to relocate to Washington D.C. by March 7th. Some employees located thousands of miles from the capital received emails warning that if they did not move to Washington D.C., "their continued employment at the agency will be limited and the agency may pursue adverse actions against them."

Why are DOGE employees, owned by billionaire Musk, quitting en masse?

The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), an organization representing 110,000 U.S. federal employees, said this was the first time they had heard of the Trump administration asking people to relocate to Washington. "This is another attack and forcing people to quit their jobs," Reuters quoted NFFE Executive Director Steve Lenkart as saying. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the White House did not immediately comment.

To date, the U.S. government has laid off or offered severance pay to approximately 100,000 of its 2.3 million federal employees in an unprecedented effort to cut staff. The White House has not released an official figure on the number of people laid off under this plan.

Five former US Secretaries of Defense speak out.

The Washington Post reported on February 28th that five former US Secretaries of Defense—William Perry, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, and Lloyd Austin—strongly opposed President Trump's firing of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown and other senior officials. They accused Trump of seeking to turn the US military into a partisan political tool and using dismissals to "remove the legal constraints on presidential power." Furthermore, they urged Congress not to approve any proposed replacements for those positions.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/no-luc-cat-giam-nhan-su-cua-ong-trump-gap-kho-185250228231323171.htm