Posted on 05/14/2024 11:15:33 AM PDT by george76
The Biden administration’s rule seems designed to ensure the deep state will remain unaccountable to the president — and the American people..
If you think firing poorly performing federal employees is too hard, you are not alone. Most federal employees agree. Now President Biden has made this problem worse. New regulations will make dismissals of poor-performing and subversive employees even more difficult. The rule reinforces removal restrictions and prohibits the reclassification of federal bureaucrats. This broad regulatory change was built specifically to block the reinstatement of Trump-era reforms. The deep state will soon become even less accountable.
The federal employee dismissal process is broken. Agencies take six months to a year to remove poor performers, followed by lengthy appeals that often result in reinstatement with back pay. If the employee wins, agencies must typically cover their attorney fees — at rates of $400 to $1,000 per hour. This makes removing employees for even the worst offenses expensive and uncertain.
For example, the Department of Justice suspended two prosecutors who withheld exculpatory evidence from a U.S. senator’s defense team. The federal judge overseeing the case said he had “never seen such mishandling or misconduct.” Nonetheless, the prosecutors appealed and got the suspensions overturned on a technicality. The government restored two months of back wages and paid out $643,000 in attorney fees.
This dysfunction is all too common. Removing problematic employees is difficult in every federal agency. Just one-half of 1 percent of tenured federal employees were fired in 2023 for poor performance or misconduct.
Surveys show that federal employees themselves object to this system. Half report chronic poor performance in their unit, and most don’t believe their agency effectively addresses poor performers. Fewer than half of federal career supervisors feel confident they could dismiss an employee for serious misconduct. Just a quarter believe they could remove a poor performer. Federal employees recognize the system is broken.
Unfortunately, this dysfunction empowers bad actors, and it is not uncommon for career employees to inject partisanship into their official duties.
Such partisanship was particularly evident during the Trump administration. The press widely reported on career employees opposing the president’s policies; some even boasted about their “resistance.” Many career bureaucrats acted as though they — not elected officials or presidential appointees — should set policy. Most Americans recognize unelected bureaucrats have too much control over federal policy. The “deep state” is real, and it is a serious challenge to our democracy.
President Trump addressed these problems with an executive order creating “Schedule F” for career officials in policy-influencing jobs. The order made them at-will employees, just like most private sector workers, without removal restrictions. Schedule F gave agencies the ability to effectively and quickly address poor performance or misconduct. At the same time, the order continued protections against politically motivated or discriminatory removals.
Schedule F was designed with successful state-level reforms in mind. Many states have made most or all state employees at-will employees. These reforms have generally shown positive results without the feared abuses materializing.
Texas and Florida — two of America’s three most populous states — have embraced at-will employment. Their state governments operate quite well. Schedule F would have expanded these successes nationally. The government can operate effectively if it has the will to do so.
Despite Schedule F’s potential, President Biden revoked it shortly after taking office. His administration has now issued a new rule designed to prevent a future administration from bringing back Schedule F. The new regulations reinforce career employee removal restrictions and prohibit reclassifying career employees into an at-will status. Federal bureaucrats who inject partisanship into their duties will remain hard to dismiss. So will chronic poor performers.
The Biden administration’s rule cements major flaws in the federal workforce. The rule protects poor performers and bureaucratic resistance. It seems designed to ensure the deep state will remain unaccountable to the president — and the American people.
Even government employees recognize the federal dismissal process is broken. President Biden’s new rule will make it even harder to fix. That is not good for America or democracy.
Ukraine needs soldiers.
Why limit US help to just money and weapons?
Executive orders carry the authority of law, and can only be changed by the same rule-making process that created them under the Administrative Procedures Act, which IS law.
That means it will take Trump well over 3 years of his term to implement Schedule F in a way that won’t be reversed by the federal courts.
Antartica is in desperate need of government dmployees!
They can, however, be transferred at the same level.
Fill Guam up with them until it tips over.
If this is merely a administration driven action and not passed by Congress then Trump can just change the rule back and then reinstate the Sched F policy again.
<>They can, however, be transferred at the same level.<>
That is what I was wondering. Make life miserable for thousands of these leeches and their families. Watch DC real estate become more affordable.
Just put them in an old B52 hanger. Folding chairs and tables. Base housing.
A time clock in or out.
No phones. No computers. Just sit there.
This!
I think people are calling it ‘THE BLOB’ now. :)
Agree, make an office in the Mohave and send there jobs there.
Did you just forget the (1st?) Trump Administration, where the courts restricted Trump’s ability to reverse Obama policies the courts admitted were illegal?
This is his real power base.
Ignore the new regulations. Fire anyone that Trump wants. If they want to fight it in court use the full weight of taxpayer dollars against their private legal costs. Keep those fired employees in court until they cannot afford a fight anymore.
A new R Congress should realign the Article 3 courts’ jurisdictions. They could assign original jurisdiction of all cases regarding EO’s and Administrative Law to the Supreme Court. All meddling District Court judges would be eliminated.
Guam is even more isolated. They also can’t vote there.
Double super secret mission watching paint.
List of original jurisdiction of SCOTUS is short and enumerated in constitution. Doubt they want more such work.. better would be to. Assign it to a new court, which Trump could fill from scratch..
Nice Idea, but even more important is to not put all of them in one place.
I would put one sub agency in Guam, One sub agency in USVI, one sub agency in Alcatraz, one sub agency in Isle Royal, etc.
Make it so you break up cliques, partners have to choose whose job is more important, and also make it more difficult for them to only socialize with other federal parasites.
Trump has to start by shutting down whole agencies. There’s no point in looking at a few useless employees.
It’ll be fixed.
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