Exclusive: Former MSPB official says 'strong evidence' Trump acting 'illegally' in firing workers
Source: Scripps News
Posted 4:15 PM, Mar 05, 2025 and last updated 6:41 PM, Mar 05, 2025
A former top official charged with overseeing employment disputes in the federal workforce tells Scripps News there is "strong evidence" President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink government agencies broke the law.
Since early 2022, Raymond Limon served on the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent, quasi-judicial body designed to protect career federal workers from partisan politics by allowing employees to appeal actions like suspensions and terminations. After working in public service for nearly three decades across multiple federal offices and agencies, Limon retired on Friday and spoke exclusively with Scripps News on Tuesday about his government work and what he sees as the “unprecedented” challenges facing the workforce under Trump.
“So far, this feels like somewhat of a power grab,” Limon said of Trump’s mass employee firings. "This kind of overreach is trying to see how far he can get away with... The legal argument that Department of Justice is trying to make, if you take it to its fullest conclusion, is that every single federal employee reports to the President and can be removed by the President. And again, I don't believe that's what the statutes say. I don't believe that's what Supreme Court decisions have said.”
One of Limon’s last official actions while still serving on the Board was to grant an immediate stay of Trump’s firing of six probationary employees across different agencies of the government, reinstating their positions for at least 45 days while an investigation into their cases continues. Friday’s MSPB order represented the first such reinstatement of nonpolitical federal workers dismissed by Trump during his new term, and Limon told Scripps News he sees it as instructive for how the Board may respond to the tens of thousands of other workers fired in a similar manner.
Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/president-trumps-first-100-days/exclusive-former-mspb-official-says-strong-evidence-trump-acting-illegally-in-firing-workers
= new reply since forum marked as read
