President Donald Trump’s order removing job protections from federal officials violates federal law, according to a Jan. 20 lawsuit.
He noted that in recent years, there have been some federal officials who have resisted executive leadership.
The order states in part: “Employees in or applicants for Schedule Policy/Career positions are not required to personally or politically support the current President or the policies of the current administration. They are required to faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and the vesting of executive authority solely in the President. Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.”
The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents workers across 36 federal agencies, alleges that the order goes beyond presidential authority, pointing to a law that says the president can make exceptions to protections for influential officials only when warranted by “conditions of good administration.”
“Reclassifying large numbers of employees in the competitive service or existing excepted service schedules into a new excepted service schedule with the intent of making them at-will employees is contrary to Congress’s intent in establishing broad protections for most federal employees,” the union said in the suit.
The order also illegally rescinds federal regulations, the union said.
The suit requests a court order declaring the order illegal and blocking officials from implementing it.
Defendants include Trump and Charles Ezell, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Department of Justice, which represents federal agencies and officials in court, did not return an inquiry.
The suit is one of several launched within hours of Trump taking office.
