On January 25, 2025, President Trump told a crowd of supporters that he was considering firing roughly 88,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees. Alternatively, he proposed sending these employees to the border. As reported by Newsweek, Trump told the crowd:
“On Day 1, I immediately halted the hiring of any new IRS agents. You know they hired—or tried to hire—88,000 new workers to go after you, and we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we’ll move them to the border.”
During his impromptu speech, President Trump would go on to say, “I think we’re going to move them to the border where they are allowed to carry guns. You know, they’re so strong on guns. But these people are allowed to carry guns. So, we will probably move them to the border.”
It is hard to know for certain whether President Trump was serious. However, he has shown disdain for the IRS in the past; and, in his “Hiring Freeze” memorandum issued on Inauguration Day, he specifically singled out the IRS. While the hiring freeze is currently scheduled to last no more than 90 days for most federal agencies, it will remain in effect for the IRS “until the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of OMB and the Administrator of USDS, determines that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze.”
In contrast with the President’s contentions, the IRS did not hire 88,000 new employees to “go after” U.S. taxpayers while President Biden was in office (it has slightly more than 100,000 employees total), and only a small percentage of IRS personnel—specifically, Special Agents with IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI)—are authorized to carry firearms. So, whether President Trump’s proposal is even feasible is at the very least up for debate. But, assuming he continues to target the IRS, can he fire IRS personnel—and can he send IRS personnel to the border?
Termination of Federal Employees
Under federal law, employees of federal agencies enjoy several protections not afforded to employees in the private sector. While these protections vary depending on federal workers’ employment history, seniority and other factors, in most cases, termination of rank-and-file agency employees is only permitted in three circumstances:
- Misconduct
- Poor performance
- Federal reductions in force (RIFs)
In all three of these circumstances, significant substantive and procedural safeguards apply. As explained in a recent article in The Hill, Congress implemented these safeguards specifically to address the scenario many federal employees are facing today:
“The federal civil service system exists to ensure that hiring and firing decisions are based on merit, not political favoritism. . . . Before this system was established, many new administrations fired their predecessors’ civil servants and replaced them with donors and cronies. This practice led to instability and inefficiency within the federal government. To address this issue, Congress established merit-based hiring and firing procedures that apply to civil servants who are not political appointees, ensuring that government agencies are staffed with qualified individuals who can effectively serve the public.”
As a result, not only can President Trump not simply fire a substantial portion of the IRS’s workforce, but the IRS cannot terminate its personnel without following the requisite procedures—and it can only do so if adequate grounds exist. Conducting a large-scale federal reduction in force would be a big deal, and there would be numerous complicated legal issues involved.
It is also worth noting that making federal employment-related decisions based on political affiliation is a prohibited personnel practice (PPP). The federal PPP statute also prohibits any arm of the executive branch from “tak[ing] any action against any employee or applicant for employment as a reprisal for the refusal of any person to engage in such political activity.” While these prohibitions do not apply to certain high-level federal positions, they apply across the majority of the federal workforce, including most of the IRS.
Reassignment of Federal Employees
What about reassigning IRS agents to the border? This is a bit more complicated. As the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) explains, “[t]he reassignment regulations give an agency extensive flexibility in reassigning an employee to a different position.” As the OPM goes on to explain:
“An agency may reassign an employee when . . . [t]he agency has a legitimate organizational reason for the reassignment; and [t]he vacant position is at the same grade, or rate of pay (i.e., if the movement is between pay systems such as from a General Schedule position to a Federal Wage System position), as the employee’s present position. . . . The position to which the agency reassigns an employee may be located in the same or a different geographic area (e.g., reassignment from Houston to Washington, D.C.).”
With that said, this is an extremely abridged summary of the federal reassignment regulations. There are many other complex technical, practical and legal issues that would come into play were a mass reassignment of IRS personnel to the border to receive serious consideration.
Protecting Your Legal Rights as an IRS Employee (or an Employee of Any Other Federal Agency)
This is a fraught time for many federal employees. If you work for the IRS (or any other federal agency), understanding what you can (and should) do to protect yourself can be challenging. It is important to do your best to stay informed; and, if you have questions about losing your job or facing reassignment, we strongly recommend consulting with an experienced federal employment attorney about your legal rights.
Request a Free and Confidential Consultation with an Experienced Federal Employment Attorney
Do you have questions or concerns about your legal rights as a federal employee in 2025? If so, we are more than happy to help you understand your situation and the options you have available. To request a free and confidential consultation with an experienced federal employment attorney at Bell Law Group, please call 516-585-3718 or contact us online today.
