Oversight Dems: Commerce reneged on probationers’ health benefits

Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday accused the Commerce Department of illegally reneging on probationary employees’ health benefits during the Trump administration’s ongoing quest to purge recently hired or promoted workers across government.

Earlier this year, federal agencies summarily fired tens of thousands of federal workers who were in their first year of public service, when they generally have less recourse to challenge adverse personnel actions. They also fired many tenured yet recently promoted employees, despite federal law stipulating such individuals retain their full Title 5 removal protections despite their return to probationary status.

Many of these purges were reversed by court order in March—though many agencies, Commerce included, simply placed reinstated workers on administrative leave—until two April appellate court decisions allowed for the workers’ refiring.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the panel’s acting ranking member, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., said employees have reached out to committee Democrats over the department’s failure to properly handle their health care benefits under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

“I write with grave concern regarding reports that the Department of Commerce failed to provide illegally terminated probationary federal employees with health care coverage in the immediate aftermath of their initial terminations and upon rehiring, and has failed to provide documentation to former employees regarding their terminations,” Lynch wrote. “Committee Democrats received reports that employees were fired, some with just hours’ notice, and denied health coverage for which they had already paid.”

When the Commerce Department first fired around 800 probationary workers, some received a memo explaining they would continue to receive health care coverage for 31 days past their final pay period and that they are eligible to enroll in Temporary Continuation of Coverage, a COBRA-like program where federal workers can retain their FEHBP enrollment, albeit entirely at their own cost. But others did not receive the required 31-day extension and reported their insurance carrier had ceased covering them.

When a federal judge in March ordered the employees’ reinstatement, the department restored their access to FEHBP and collected premiums from their paycheck. But in April, when the initial ruling was overturned, the department reportedly backdated some employees’ termination to March, ending their FEHBP coverage despite the employees’ continued payroll deductions.

“In one case, an employee with more than a decade of continuous service at Commerce who was classified as ‘probationary’ after accepting a promotion within the agency was told that the health insurance premiums paid into the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program would not be refunded despite Commerce’s early cancellation of health coverage without notification,” Lynch wrote. “In another case, former Commerce employees were denied health care during the 31-day post-employment period and left without coverage with no notice. Commerce’s failure to meet its health care obligations to its employees raises concerns about whether other forms of owed compensation, such as payment for earned leave and credit hours, are being denied.”

In addition, employees report that Commerce has dropped the ball in other areas of the termination process. Some report being unable to access their personnel documents to prove that they have been terminated for the purposes of seeking out new insurance coverage, while others said they remain in an unpaid leave status because the department still has not processed their firing.

“This has caused issues with applying for unemployment benefits in many states and with acquiring new employment,” Lynch wrote. “Commerce must rectify this immediately and ensure that former employees have the documentation they need to allow them to access benefits and new employment.”

The Commerce Department is not the only federal agency to cut corners in its termination of probationary workers. The Housing and Urban Development Department in March refused to offer reinstated employees back pay, an apparent violation of federal law, and encouraged employees to sign up for Temporary Continuation of Coverage, rather than pay the employer’s share of their FEHBP premiums.