{"id":478,"date":"2026-07-10T13:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=478"},"modified":"2026-07-10T13:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:10:24","slug":"fired-epa-dissenters-sue-for-reinstatement-alleging-first-amendment-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=478","title":{"rendered":"Fired EPA dissenters sue for reinstatement, alleging First Amendment violations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

More than half a dozen former Environmental Protection Agency staffers, fired last summer over their participation in an open letter criticizing agency leadership, sued last month over their removal, alleging illegal retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

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In June 2025, hundreds of EPA employees signed an open \u201cdeclaration of dissent\u201d addressed to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, criticizing him for abandoning science and environmental justice efforts and instilling a \u201cculture of fear\u201d at the agency. In response, EPA suspended 150 employees who signed the letter by name in their personal capacities, eventually meting out punishments from letters of reprimand through termination.<\/p>\n

Twenty employees ultimately were fired for their role in signing the dissent letter. While the majority have begun pursuing appeals before the Merit Systems Protection Board, seven lack that avenue as they were fired while still on their one-year probationary period, before most civil service protections vest.<\/p>\n

Across two lawsuits, one filed in the U.S. District Court for , and another for , the seven former probationary workers accuse EPA leadership of ignoring both the advice of legal counsel and the results of an investigation into the letter\u2014which found none of the employees signed it while at work or using agency resources\u2014to retaliate against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speech at issue did not disrupt the workplace, impede plaintiffs\u2019 ability to do their work, or harm the mission of the agency,\u201d they wrote. \u201cThe agency had no evidence of any such disruption or harm when it decided to terminate plaintiffs. Instead, the agency\u2019s own investigation concluded that there was no interference with plaintiffs\u2019 work. Nevertheless, the agency selected plaintiffs for termination\u2014not based on any assessment of the impact of their conduct on the agency, but rather because they lacked the right to appeal their terminations to the Merit Systems Protection Board.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ordinarily, probationary employees seeking to appeal their termination must instead go to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to request an investigation. The seven employees said they did so last December but implied that the office has informally tabled any investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 counsel discussed the complaint with the OSC investigator via email and phone on numerous occasions, including phone calls on December 19, 2025; January 28, 2026; February 23, 2026; April 24, 2026; and May 18, 2026,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201c[During] the calls, the investigator indicated that OSC was investigating plaintiffs\u2019 complaints but that he could not provide details regarding the steps taken in the investigation or a timeline for its completion . . . As of the filing of this lawsuit, it has been nearly seven months since plaintiffs filed their OSC complaints. Plaintiffs have received no indication from OSC of whether it intends to seek corrective action on their behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group of 22 Democratic senators lent their support to the fired staffers\u2019 cause last month, urging Zedlin to reinstate them due to the \u201clack of any evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn early April, E&E News reported that an EPA personnel lawyer warned EPA political management that disciplining the employees for speaking out would trample their First Amendment rights,\u201d they wrote. \u201cEPA leadership pursued discipline anyway. When the legal investigation into these employees failed to produce a valid case, the agency resorted to a vague charge of \u2018conduct unbecoming of a federal employee\u2019 to justify retaliation against an employee for speaking out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Seven former EPA employees said they were targeted for removal for signing an open \u201cdeclaration of dissent\u201d in their personal capacities because they had fewer civil service protections rather than any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workforce"],"yoast_head":"\nFired EPA dissenters sue for reinstatement, alleging First Amendment violations - Market Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fired EPA dissenters sue for reinstatement, alleging First Amendment violations - 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