KCNF counsel Hector Ruiz, Jr. was cited in a Bloomberg article titled “Why a Legal Fight Is Brewing Over Shutdown Layoffs.” The article, published October 3, discusses how the Trump Administration is exploring options to turn the federal shutdown into an opportunity to shrink the government via “reductions in force,” or RIFS.
The article notes that RIFs are different from the process of firing individual federal workers based on performance or misconduct. According to the Office of Personnel Management, RIFs are used by agencies to downsize for “organizational” reasons, which can include not having enough work for employees to perform, lack of funds, or other restructuring.
Employees are supposed to receive a 60-day notice before a RIF takes effect. Agencies can obtain permission from the Office of Personnel Management to shorten that period to as little as 30 days if they can show they need to fire people because of “circumstances not reasonably foreseeable.”
Ruiz, an employment litigator who served more than 20 years as an attorney in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, said that the regulations that govern reductions in force are complex. Employees who believe that an agency failed to fully follow the rules can appeal their firing to the Merit Systems Protection Board — and win back pay or even get their job back if they win.
The full article can be read at Bloomberg.