AFGE says it will fight mass federal firings, refuting ‘performance’ claims; Treasury’s inspector general plans to audit DOGE’s access to payment systems

American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said the federal worker union would fight mass firings of government employees, calling the Trump administration’s actions a politically driven abuse of the probationary period. His statement comes after reports that probationary employees were fired from agencies across the federal government. In his statement, Kelley refuted claims that employees were fired for poor performance, saying “there is no evidence these employees were anything but dedicated public servants.” In response to a request for comment, a spokeswoman for OPM said “the probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General said it has opened an audit into the agency’s payments system after Department of Government Efficiency liaisons accessed the personal and financial information of Americans stored by the Bureau of Fiscal Service. In letters to Democrats in the Senate and House, Loren Sciurba, Treasury’s deputy inspector general, said the OIG initiated the audit into Bureau of Fiscal Service systems before the lawmakers made the request last week. The audit will examine applicable payment system controls that have been in place since Oct. 1, 2024, in addition to the two most recent fiscal years “as it relates to alleged fraudulent payments.”

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