The former special counsel Hampton Dellinger stated that he intended to take legal steps to reinstate all dismissed probationary employees to their positions prior to a court decision removing him from his role.
Dellinger was dismissed by President Trump in February, however, a lower court reinstated him to his position as he pursued legal claims asserting that he had the right to stay employed throughout the entire duration of his five-year term.
That ended with an
appeals court ruling
excluding him from remaining at work during the continuation of the case led Dellinger to terminate his lawsuit.
“I realized that once I left, the autonomy of my position vanished. Therefore, attempting to return after six months or even a year and resume where I had left off seemed impractical. That’s why I chose to step down,” he said.
told Mediaite founder
Dan Abrams.
Dellinger achieved success with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), leading to temporary reinstatement of dismissed probationary employees across six agencies.
And in yet another decision prompted by Dellinger’s actions, the MSPB similarly permitted almost
6,000 workers
to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to have them temporarily reinstated to their positions.
It really upset me because I was about to take action; mind you, this isn’t publicly known yet, but I’m glad to share with you and your viewers—I would have stepped in last Thursday or Friday on behalf of all 200,000 probationary workers whom I believe were unfairly dismissed.
Dellinger expressed his belief that he would have won that confrontation.
“And thus, I will consistently feel disappointed that I wasn’t able to truly advocate for a few hundred thousand workers,” he stated.
Last month, the Office of Personnel Management instructed federal agencies to dismiss probationary workers — individuals who were recently hired or promoted within the past two years, varying by agency.
Previously, Dellinger had suggested he was
weighing broader actions
to protect probationary workers.
In his submissions to the MSPB, Dellinger contended that the Trump administration implemented “profit-driven personnel practices,” noting that probationary employees must still be terminated only for justifiable reasons.
Although employees were informed that their dismissals were due to performance issues, Dellinger indicated that these widespread terminations demonstrated that individual evaluations had not been conducted. In cases of significant layoff actions, the organization must follow a procedure referred to as a reduction in force, which involves governmental oversight.
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