US Special Counsel sued for dismissing fired federal workers' complaints

By Daniel Wiessner

Sept 10 (Reuters) - A group of former federal employees filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to force a U.S. watchdog agency to investigate their claims that President Donald Trump's administration broke the law by firing thousands of recently hired government workers en masse earlier this year.

The five plaintiffs, represented by left-leaning group Democracy Forward, say the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) shirked its legal obligations in April by categorically dismissing complaints from more than 2,000 probationary federal employees. The lawsuit was filed in Washington, D.C., federal court.

Probationary employees have been in their jobs for a short time, typically less than one year, though some are longtime federal workers in new roles. They have fewer legal protections than other federal employees, and the Trump administration in February fired about 25,000 probationary workers en masse.

The mass firings drew a series of legal challenges including two lawsuits by unions and nonprofits that briefly led to the fired workers being reinstated. But appeals courts have said the plaintiffs lack standing to sue or most go through an administrative process instead of to court.

OSC acts like a prosecutor and can bring certain types of claims on behalf of federal employees to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which hears appeals by federal workers who have been fired or disciplined.

Former Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger had found in February that the en masse firings of probationary workers were likely illegal, but Trump fired him shortly after.

And the acting Special Counsel appointed by Trump to replace Dellinger, Jamieson Greer, in April summarily dismissed more than 2,000 complaints by terminated probationary workers, saying their firings were "effected in accordance with the new administration’s priorities."

The plaintiffs in Wednesday's lawsuit said OSC failed to adequately explain its abrupt reversal and disregarded its obligation to protection federal workers from unlawful employment actions.

They said the agency's move sent a message that it "was now directly controlled by the White House and that protections granted by Congress to probationary employees could and would be set aside for political expediency."

OSC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The office is charged with investigating claims of federal employment practices that threaten the merit-based civil service system, such as whistleblower retaliation or political favoritism.

The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the April directives to dismiss complaints were arbitrary and capricious in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act and that OSC cannot categorically dismiss complaints filed by probationary employees.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to order OSC to reopen and investigate complaints that were dismissed under the directives.

The case is Civil Servant 1 v. U.S. Office of Special Counsel, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:25-cv-03107.

For the plaintiffs: Michael Martinez and Elena Goldstein

For the government: U.S. Department of Justice

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