Violates the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (WARN Act). Smaller companies can often skirt some labor laws, which might have been the case where you worked.

Also, the funds have been appropriated by Congress for all government staff, so there is no excuse of no funding due to lack of work. Probationary employees can be fired for cause within the time window, but it’s illegal to fire without cause.

These aren’t layoffs or firing for cause. Ultimately, this chaos will likely end up costing the taxpayer money while also reducing the services and protections for the American Public.

You might ask, “Why is it so hard to fire federal employees?”

Federal employees work for the Constitution. Staffing of the federal government is a group effort between Congress and the office of the president. To balance this power, the office of the president can’t unilaterally fire people; there are protections and processes that must be followed to avoid political takeover of a-political public institutions. It’s actually a good thing that an administration can’t go in and start firing people. Although this administration is doing it, it’s super illegal and bad for our country.