A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A federal judge says the Trump administration illegally fired thousands of federal workers on probationary status. He ruled yesterday. Probationary status includes new hires, but also workers who just got promoted. NPR's Chris Arnold introduces us to two of them.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: Eileen and James Kramer, until two weeks ago, worked at the sprawling 4-million-acre Lake Clark National Park in Alaska.
JAMES KRAMER: There's one volcano that way - beyond those mountains that way. Lake Clark is behind us.
ARNOLD: The couple is showing me the scenery off the back porch of the house that they may soon have to vacate 'cause it's owned by the Park Service.
J KRAMER: It's more than just losing our job. We're losing our life. We're losing our house.
EILEEN KRAMER: We've given so much to this place, and we've created a life here. And that's being taken away dishonestly.
ARNOLD: Here's why they say dishonestly and why what's happening to this couple and thousands of other workers may not be legal. Eileen and James have worked in the park for about 10 years, and both recently got promoted. She's in logistics. He's a biological science technician. Their promotions put them into probationary status. Still, legal experts say that doesn't mean that the Trump administration can just summarily fire them. Even probationary workers have protections. But an agency is allowed to fire a probationary worker for bad performance or conduct. So it appears that the administration is citing bad performance when it sends workers termination letters, even though workers like James and Eileen Kramer say that's a lie.
E KRAMER: Yeah. That was really, I think, the hardest part about it - was that they were saying we were underperforming, which isn't true.
J KRAMER: They obviously didn't look at our personnel file because we have evidence showing that...
E KRAMER: Yeah.
J KRAMER: ...We've exceeded expectations, and we've received performance awards.
E KRAMER: I got a regional award specifically in efficiency last year.
ARNOLD: She got an award for efficiency. This whole mass firing, of course, is part of the Trump administration's supposed effort to increase efficiency in government. A lawsuit on behalf of federal workers takes issue with these firing notices, alleging that the Trump administration, quote, "has perpetuated one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country." Yesterday, a federal judge sided with the workers, ruling that an office in the administration exceeded its authority with these mass firings. The government had argued that it didn't because each agency made their own decisions. It's not yet clear exactly how this is going to affect workers who were already let go.
Michelle Berkovich is a lawyer working on a separate legal effort to help probationary workers.
MICHELLE BERKOVICH: They had good performance, good relationship with their supervisor and were terminated using the same letter. This is a attempt to circumvent various procedures, policies or requirements designed to protect employees.
ARNOLD: Basically, Berkovich says, if a government agency wants to do a mass layoff, that's called a reduction in force, and there are rules that need to be followed. A lot of planning is required. At the national park in Alaska, Eileen and James Kramer say there was no apparent planning to the layoffs there. They say half the staff who live on-site at the park were fired, including a 20-year veteran who had just become a supervisor. They say he's the only one who knew how to fix the boats and the trucks and the heaters.
E KRAMER: He's also emergency response. He's a boat captain. He's an EMT. He's the one that's going to come rescue you if you get in trouble in the backcountry. He can fix pretty much anything.
J KRAMER: Exactly.
E KRAMER: Yeah.
J KRAMER: Like, the superintendent even said, you can fire me. The park will still run without me, but without Warren, we can't do anything.
ARNOLD: The couple says none of these firings seem to have anything to do with waste or inefficiency.
Chris Arnold, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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