Dellinger was confirmed as Special Counsel a year ago for a five-year term and says a required justification was not given for his termination. Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffHampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, until his firing late last Friday (February 7), has filed a lawsuit asserting that the firing was illegal.
By law, a Special Counsel can be fired “only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” but “in flagrant disregard for the clear statutory text, Special Counsel Dellinger was purportedly terminated without basis, justification or authority” in a brief evening email from the White House personnel office that “provided no justification at all,” he said in asking the federal district court in Washington, D.C. to order that he remain in office.
“The OSC’s ability to protect the civil service and investigate alleged misconduct is needed now more than ever,” it adds. “Over the preceding three weeks, an unprecedented number of federal employees with civil service protections have been terminated without cause. Senior career officials have been purged from the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Eighteen Inspectors General from across the federal government have been removed without the justification required by statute. And hundreds of federal employees have been locked out of their computer systems by the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization.”
“Congress authorized the OSC with a crucial investigative and oversight role to protect the integrity of the civil service in circumstances such as these,” it says.
Dellinger was confirmed as Special Counsel a year ago for a five-year term. In that time, he has prodded agencies to be more responsive in investigating whistleblowing disclosures and has obtained settlements with agencies in favor of a number of employees who alleged retaliation. He also has reached settlements with a number of employees that the OSC accused of violating the Hatch Act, another major area of its responsibility.
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