Trump seeks to limit legal options for fired federal workers

Washington: The Trump administration is trying to make it harder for fired federal employees to get their jobs back, according to ​a government plan released on Monday, by limiting their right ‌to appeal their dismissal to an independent ⁠board.

The Office of Personnel ‌Management, the federal government’s HR office, proposed ending the right of fired federal employees to dispute their dismissal before the independent Merit Systems Protection Board, according to the plan. Instead, fired workers would need ​to appeal to OPM, an office whose director reports to US President Donald Trump.

The Merit Systems Protection Board mediates disputes between federal workers and their employers. ‌The board ‌saw a spike in new cases after Trump took office for the second time. The board's ⁠caseload jumped 266% from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, according to government records, compared to the same period the year before.

If the proposal ⁠is implemented, it would build on Trump's earlier ⁠efforts to shrink the size of the federal ‌government. Trump has made mass layoffs of government ‌employees a centerpiece of his second term. At the same time, he has undermined avenues for those same workers to dispute their dismissals, ‍including by firing members of government offices that enforce job protections for federal employees. The Trump administration pushed out 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 opting to accept a buyout or leave on their ​own. Reuters could not ‌independently verify the accuracy of Kupor's statement.

The Merit Systems Protection Board mediates disputes between federal workers and their employers.