OPM Director Granted Authority to Fire Employees Across Federal Government

President Trump granted the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the power to fire federal employees across the government. 

In a new memo, President Trump wrote that the OPM director will have the authority “to make final suitability determinations and take suitability actions regarding employees in the executive branch based on post-appointment conduct, consistent with applicable law.”

This is an expansion of OPM’s authority.

The memo tasks OPM with writing the regulations on the agency’s new power, which will then be subject to a public comment period. Suggestions include allowing agencies to refer employees to OPM for firing and allowing the OPM Director to reach down into agencies and order certain employees fired. 

Employee groups warn of the consequences, even as the extent of OPM’s authority will not be known until the upcoming regulations are written.

“Once you get your career appointment, it’s your agency’s job to do these assessments of your conduct or your performance,” said Jacque Simon, director of public policy for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to GovExec. “This is: ‘No, I’m the king, and I will decide your suitability after you’ve gotten your appointment.’

Beefing up DOGE

Other federal workforce experts believe this may be a way to get around recent court decisions that put limits on the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

This includes a decision out of the U.S. District Court in Northern California that ruled that OPM lacked the power to fire employees in other federal agencies, which prompted OPM to issue updated guidance.

“The administration in general and DOGE in particular has been incredibly clever in their ability to shapeshift as needed to stay in the game, and as the courts have determined there are limits, DOGE and Musk have found ways to get around them,” said University of Maryland Professor Emeritus Don Kettl.