“(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 said.
“The agencies could thumb their nose at OPM if they wanted to,” he added.
Alsup said he would release an opinion with further details in “due course.” An evidentiary hearing is expected next month, where the judge said he wanted OPM acting director Charles Ezell to testify.
A coalition of government employee unions sued over OPM’s directive to agency leaders to fire employees still in their probationary period