The suit cites performance ratings that were “flatly incorrect” for several employees and both incorrect performance ratings and an incorrect work location or agency component for several others. Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA lawsuit charges that HHS committed “glaring errors” in selecting which employees would be separated by a RIF that started in April in a process that the suit characterizes as apparently “driven by a political strategy of moving fast and breaking things” and accepting that mistakes would be made.
The suit, filed as a class action complaint in federal district court in the District of Columbia, may presage similar ones to be filed against other agencies as they move to carry out RIFs, should the U.S. Supreme Court grant the Trump administration’s request to lift an injunction that has temporarily stopped RIFs at HHS and a score of other agencies.
It says that HHS, OPM and DOGE shared among each other personnel records that they knew “were hopelessly error ridden, and that the records should have been used, if at all, with great caution. Instead of taking steps to verify the contents of the records and correct the systemic inaccuracies, the agencies promptly used them to fire 10,000 employees.”
“For these Plaintiffs, HHS’s intentional failure to maintain complete and accurate records before making life-changing employment decisions was a clear violation of the law. And Plaintiffs suffered real harm immediately, which will remain unredressed even if their jobs are eventually reinstated,” it adds.
It gives as examples the citation of performance ratings that were “flatly incorrect” for several employees and both incorrect performance ratings and an incorrect work location or agency component for several others. Performance ratings and the boundaries of a “competitive area” are key elements of RIF retention decision.
Such issues were common in what it calls a “chaotic” process that also included employees not knowing they had been RIF’d until they arrived at work and found that their security badges no longer were operational; employees directed to raise EEO complaints to individuals who were no longer with the department;
It adds: “Being terminated based on false performance ratings is particularly harmful to employees because it tarnishes their reputation and may make it more difficult for them to find a new job. Impacted employees seeking new jobs are stuck trying to explain incorrect performance ratings on official government employment documents to prospective employers.”
The suit asks for a judgment that the RIF violated the Privacy Act and other laws and for other relief “as the Court may deem just and proper.”
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