(Photo by recreation.gov)

Last month the Interior Department announced the firing of 2,300 federal employees following, it says, a directive from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The OPM is an independent agency in the executive branch of the US government. It manages the federal civil service, including human resources policy, healthcare, life insurance, and retirement benefits.

The Interior Department oversees agencies such as the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.

Also included are tribal affairs, endangered species and conservation of and energy production on federally owned lands and in federal waters.

In the Upper Peninsula, this includes Isle Royale National Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Keweenaw National Historical Park, and the Ottawa and Hiawatha national forests.

Some of these have been slated for employee terminations, while others have not.

Outside Magazine on March 3 published a list of National Parks included in the mass firings. In the U.P. only one national park was included on the list. At the Isle Royale National Park, one employee was fired.

On Feb. 26, the Sault News reported 14 employees at Hiawatha National Forest were fired as part of federal workforce reduction efforts. Another eight from the Ottawa National Forest were fired.

A U.S. Forest Service Briefing Paper, also published on Feb. 13, says that all federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture (USDA) were notified on Feb. 12, 1025, by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to terminate all employees who have not completed their probationary period.

On Feb. 13, Internal letters, in the form of a memorandum, from Deedra Fogle, USDA director of human resource director states in part:

“The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have no demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest.”

A week later a federal judge ruled the OPM does not have authority over departments it does not oversee.

On Feb. 27, a federal judge in San Fransisco ruled the mass firings were likely illegal.

NBC News reported on Feb. 27 that U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees, including at the Dept. of Defense.

“The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire and fire employees within another agency,” Alsup is quoted as saying. “It can hire its own employees, yes. Can fire them. But it cannot order or direct some other agency to do so.”

On Feb. 27, the NPS website said, in part:

“The National Park Service is hiring seasonal workers to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management.”