Worker Policy Watch
Your source for accurate and reliable information on how federal policies are shaping workers’ rights—and what’s at stake for working people nationwide under the Trump administration.
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OPM Says Agencies Can Fire Probationary Federal Workers Without Cause
According to guidance from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), probationary workers can be fired without performance-related cause.
Impact:
Thousands of probationary federal workers who were fired without cause and subsequently reinstated now face being fired for a second time. The OPM guidance expands upon Trump’s earlier executive order designed to strip job protections from federal workers, including probationary employees.
Department of Labor Staffers Placed on Leave Amid DOGE Efforts to Access Sensitive Immigrant Worker Data
Multiple U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) employees who handle sensitive data of immigrant workers are placed on leave as DOGE seeks agency data to advance Trump’s deportation agenda.
Impact:
This builds on DOGE’s earlier attempts to access DOL worker data, including employment based visa (ETA) data related to the National Farmworker Jobs Program. DOGE’s potentially illegal access could jeopardize trust with workers and the agency.
Whistleblower Claims DOGE Accessed Confidential NLRB Data
A whistleblower has reported to Congress that a DOGE team accessed sensitive and confidential National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) information on unions and ongoing legal cases and tried to cover their tracks.
Impact:
Given the Trump administration’s hostility towards labor organizations and unions, the whistleblower believes that the suspicious DOGE activity warrants further investigation by the FBI and others, and that if this information becomes public, it could do damage to unions and corporations and undermine the NLRB’s independence.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court puts a hold on reinstatement of Wilcox and Harris
The stay gives the Court time to take up the merits of the case, which will also be argued before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Impact:
As long as the stay is in effect, the NLRB lacks a quorum and the MSPB has only two members.
Trump Ends Union Dues Collection for Most Federal Workers
The Trump administration has stopped collecting federal workers’ union dues at the federal agencies targeted by a recent executive order to strip workers of collective bargaining rights.
Impact:
Without notice to unions or federal workers, the government’s three main payroll processors have all stopped collecting union dues directly from workers’ paychecks. This comes after Trump’s executive order seeking to end collective bargaining rights for federal workers. The administration has also filed several lawsuits in federal court aimed at ending federal workforce union contracts at agencies targeted by the executive order.
U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Rehiring of Fired Federal Workers
The U.S. Supreme Court halted a judge’s order for the Trump administration to rehire thousands of fired federal workers, holding that the plaintiffs in the case, all organizations representing federal employees and their interests, did not have standing to bring suit.
Impact:
The court halted U.S. Judge William Alsup's March 13 injunction requiring six federal agencies to reinstate thousands of probational federal workers. The impact of the Supreme Court’s decision may be more limited in this case, since five of the six federal agencies under Judge Alsup’s injunction are part of a separate lawsuit where a judge ruled that thousands of probationary federal workers must be rehired if they live in Washington, D.C. or one of the 19 states that have sued over the firings.
D.C. Circuit Court Reinstates Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris to the Merit Systems Protection Board
The U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. ruled that Trump’s firing of Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Harris from the MSPB were unlawful and reinstates her, setting up a potential battle with the Supreme Court.
Impact:
With Wilcox reinstated, the NLRB now has a statutory quorum of three members and can operate. However, Judge Karen Henderson in her opinion offered that only the Supreme Court can ultimately settle the dispute between Wilcox and the Trump administration.
IRS Fires 25 Percent of Its Workforce and Eliminates Civil Rights Office
The Internal Revenue Service began layoffs of some 20,000 workers. The agency’s civil rights office, which protects taxpayers from discrimination, will be eliminated.
Impact:
The cuts come during the agency’s busiest season, with the annual tax filing deadline of April 15 approaching. Experts have raised concerns that the government could see a sharp drop in revenue as individuals and businesses see opportunities to take advantage of a diminished IRS to cheat on their taxes. The IRS also plays a critical role in fighting poverty for working people by administering programs like the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Trump Administration Lays Off 10,000 Health Agency Workers, Including From Critical Worker Safety Agency
The Trump administration laid off about 10,000 workers from agencies across the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, National Institute of Health, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Nearly 900 workers were cut from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Impact:
NIOSH studies worker safety and health and investigates workplace injuries and outbreaks of disease. The Trump cuts most strongly impacted the agency’s mine safety research and respirator approval programs as well as the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer.
Trump Admin Begins Massive Purge of U.S. Health and Human Services Department Workers
Up to 10,000 U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) workers are expected to be fired as the Trump administration purges the workforce of the agency responsible in the U.S. for tracking health trends, disease outbreaks, and regulating food.
Impact:
This comes after Trump’s recent executive order attempting to end collective bargaining with federal labor unions in agencies with national security missions across the federal government. Last week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to remake the agency and reduce the workforce by a quarter.