From Axios

The White House’s latest moves to purge the civil service came late Tuesday via an executive order and an email blast to workers letting them know they were fired.

Why it matters: Legal experts say the moves are likely unlawful, workers complain they were sloppily handled, and the whole process runs the risk of doing long-term damage to critical workings of the federal government.

The big picture: There’s a standard playbook for how to do hiring, firing and cuts in the federal government, which is more restrictive than in the private sector, in order to protect the civil service from corruption and politicization. Presidents can also go to Congress to authorize cuts and other actions.

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From the New York Times

The one-sentence email from the White House arrived in Cathy Harris’s inbox at 10:49 p.m. Monday, startling her when she woke up and read it early the next morning.

“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position on the Merit Systems Protection Board is terminated, effective immediately,” wrote Trent Morse, the deputy director of the presidential personnel office.

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From CNN

Scores of firings have begun at federal agencies, with terminations of probationary employees underway at the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration, federal employees and union sources told CNN Wednesday.

The firings mark the first from the Trump administration as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency aim to dramatically shrink the federal workforce. Until now, federal employees across all government agencies had only been placed on paid administrative leave.

The move comes the same day as a federal judge allowed the administration’s deferred resignation program to proceed. About 75,000 employees have accepted the offer, which generally allows them to leave their jobs but be paid through the end of September.

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From the New York Times

A federal judge said the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program for federal workers could move forward, allowing the White House to advance a critical part of its plan to reduce the federal work force through mass payouts. Earlier this week, the federal government said at least 75,000 workers applied for the program, known as “Fork in the Road.” The administration immediately closed the program to new applicants.

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From Bloomberg Law

President Donald Trump‘s voluntary resignation offer to federal workers leaves them with few legal options if they decide to take the deal and later try to sue.

Employees have until 11:59 p.m. today to decide whether to take an offer to go on administrative leave and continue collecting a paycheck through Sept. 30. In exchange, they must waive their right to challenge the arrangement in court, according to a Feb. 4 statement from OPM, forcing them to trust the Trump administration will honor the deal.

“Civil servants need to think very carefully about the risks posed by an offer like this given the legal questions surrounding it and whether they truly think the offer is going to be upheld,” said Nick Bednar, an administrative law professor at University of Minnesota.

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From the Wall Street Journal

The Office of Personnel Management sent an email Sunday clarifying terms of its previous offer for some two million government employees to resign and continue to get a paycheck through September. The email acknowledged that the government hasn’t appropriated the funds for the offer, since the current funding bill for the government expires mid-March.

If Congress doesn’t cobble together a spending bill before the deadline, the government could shut down, freezing payments to federal employees. The memo said any employee who accepts what is called the deferred resignation offer would be entitled to backpay in the event of a shutdown.

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From the Washington Post

President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order aimed at eventually closing the Education Department and, in the short term, dismantling it from within, according to three people briefed on its contents.

The draft order acknowledges that only Congress can shut down the department and instead directs the agency to begin to diminish itself, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal issues.

That work is underway already. The new administration has been trying to reduce the workforce by putting scores of employees on administrative leave and pressuring staff to voluntarily quit.

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From CNN

Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave Friday as part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to rid the federal workforce of employees associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts, two sources familiar with the move told CNN.

The department sent letters to employees informing them that their email accounts were being suspended but that they would continue to receive paychecks for an indefinite period, the sources said.

The department cited guidance from the White House’s Office of Personnel and Management, issued on January 21, that directed government agencies to notify “all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.”

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