President Donald Trump’s pledge to overhaul the federal workforce is coming into sharper focus. The federal government’s human resources office is issuing memos instructing agency heads to review employees under probation for possible dismissal and instructing agencies on how to implement Trump’s hiring freeze order.
Calling probationary periods a key tool for managing staffing levels, Ezell asked heads and acting heads of all U.S. departments and agencies to identify all probationary employees—those with less than a year in competitive service posts and those serving for less than two years in the excepted service—and send the list to OPM for review. Ezell noted that such employees can be dismissed without triggering appeal rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), a federal panel for mediating disputes between employees and agencies.
“In addition, agencies should promptly determine whether those employees should be retained at the agency,” Ezell wrote, suggesting that some federal government jobs could be on the chopping block.
“A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America,” Trump said in a November 2024 statement.
Ezell’s memo instructs federal agencies to provide the list of probationary employees by Jan. 24. Additionally, his memo highlights the use of administrative leave and the reclassification of duties as tools to manage workforce transitions. He encouraged agencies to consider using administrative leave for employees whose roles are under review, particularly if their continued presence might disrupt operations during restructuring.
The memo also notes that agency heads have the discretion to temporarily reassign employees to other duties, including unclassified roles, for up to 120 days without requiring additional approval. Ezell noted that this gives agency heads the flexibility to align with the administration’s reform plans “as agencies undertake reorganization efforts and close offices.”
The freeze applies to all federal civilian positions across executive departments, with exemptions for roles deemed critical to national security, public safety, or immigration enforcement. Also exempted are new hires for political positions, temporary or seasonal roles, as well as hiring by the U.S. Postal Service.
The memo also specifies that any new hires who had accepted job offers prior to Jan. 20 and are set to start by Feb. 8 may proceed, but hires scheduled to begin after that date require written approval from OPM. Additionally, the memo prohibits agencies from circumventing the freeze by outsourcing work or using contract employees to perform tasks covered by frozen positions.
The Epoch Times has contacted the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union of federal workers, with a request for comment on the memos.
