Summary

The Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that oversees illegal actions taken against federal workers, ruled that the mass firings of probationary federal workers (those in a trial period after being hired) are likely illegal.

The decision, affecting 6 cases, found that the terminations lacked individualized cause, violating federal rules.

OSC head Hampton Dellinger stated, “Firing probationary employees without individualized cause appears contrary to a reasonable reading of the law.”

This ruling could challenge the legality of nearly all such dismissals, opening the door for broader legal action.

  • andallthat@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    It’s kind of funny (the sad kind of funny) that people with years of legal studies and experience have to meet and formally rule that something blatantly illegal to the point of stupidity is… well… illegal.

    “If I have a made-up position that my own government admits is not an official one, can I go ahead and randomly fire thousands of people?”

    “A ha! Good question, let’s see what my copy of The Legal System for Dummies says!”

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      21 hours ago

      I mean, they know it’s not “legal”, they are just testing the boundaries of judicial oversight. They are going to push boundaries and whenever they get any kind of push back they are going to scream about persecution and claim judicial over reach.

      The point is to overwhelm the system to the point of breaking and then claim we don’t need to listen to the judicial system, because look how broken it is.

      These people aren’t stupid, they’re just fascist who know things like legal systems are social contracts that depend on good will and trust to operate. If they can break that good will and trust them they can rewrite the social contract.

      It is dangerous to assume these people are just stupid.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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        19 hours ago

        Just gonna quote the smart relevant alarming resharable parts of this comment

        I mean, they know it’s not “legal”, they are just testing the boundaries of judicial oversight. They are going to push boundaries and whenever they get any kind of push back they are going to scream about persecution and claim judicial over reach.

        The point is to overwhelm the system to the point of breaking and then claim we don’t need to listen to the judicial system, because look how broken it is.

        These people aren’t stupid, they’re just fascist who know things like legal systems are social contracts that depend on good will and trust to operate. If they can break that good will and trust them they can rewrite the social contract.

        It is dangerous to assume these people are just stupid.

      • andallthat@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        For what it’s worth, I didn’t think they are stupid, just that they are doing blatantly stupid, over-the-top stuff.

        On purpose? Yes it’s a really scary thought that this might be a coup in slo-mo. And I mean slo-mo just relative to the more common “army abruptly takes power” approach, but it’s still disturbingly fast.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      It’s kind of funny (the sad kind of funny) that people with years of legal studies and experience have to meet and formally rule that something blatantly illegal to the point of stupidity is… well… illegal.

      Well yeah - that’s how it works. If you don’t care about law and rules you just do shit. The people who enforce the rules have to follow them and go through processes - and by gum that’s time and work! (And who wants to do work? Definitely none of the judges and lawyers I’ve met lol)

      If they imminent domain your house to build a turnpike to siphon off money to foreign investors - that’s on you to put the time and effort into fighting it. If they run voucher programs and charter school scams that benefit their friends - well, they have other friends who often are the ones supposed to enforce the rules. They act, you have to pull yourself together and react. How can you fight an illegal eviction if you’re too busy trying to find a new place to sleep?

      It’s that old idea that the state has a monopoly on violence.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        18 hours ago

        And while you’re legally following all the rules they’re already moving on to the next thing and cornering you before you even act.

        This is your landlord illegally evicting you and then also lying to get you arrested and then paying someone to murder you in jail.

        • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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          17 hours ago

          The double bind too is that people think when illegal things happen that they get stopped, so they don’t believe that the illegal things are even happening. So many levers of justice - in the US at least - are really determined by one’s ability to get access to a lawyer or the ever increasing rarity of getting sympathetic news coverage.

          There is no justice, and then no one believes you. If the gaslighting brings you to mental illness - even more justification to pretend these things aren’t happening.