I’ve personally RIFed hundreds of people in ten or so different states (and the UK) and I’ve been deposed as a witness in a wrongful termination lawsuit. How about you?
I will admit I’ve never worked for the federal government, but I suspect that their protections are at least as good if not better than those afforded the private sector. Of course, in the private sector, employee protections vary significantly from state to state.
Falsely firing someone for cause is all about denial of benefits. That’s why Elon and crew are executing the cuts this way, because there is no budget earmarked to pay for them. I’m confident that a fifteen year federal employee is guaranteed certain financial and benefit considerations upon termination that are voided when terminated for cause. If the OP has a history of good to exceptional performance reviews with not a single issue identified in their history, they deserve exactly what has been promised upon their termination and the courts can generally be counted on to agree with me.
I have fired people for cause, and the process is very specific. You have to communicate and document the issues, put the employee on a PIP (performance improvement plan) and then only after what is at least typically thirty days (depending on the state) you have to document and communicate again how the employee has failed to improve their performance. Fail to follow that process, particularly with an individual who is in a protected class (age, race, gender, sexual orientation) and you open yourself up to a lawsuit.
Of course, a PIP is not required in cases involving violence, theft of other illegal activity.
Tens of thousands of people are being falsely fired for cause with zero documentation to support that determination because Elon and team are lying. The courts are likely to find in favor of the plaintiffs in those cases.
