Former 18F employees file appeal of DOGE firings
Former employees of the General Services Administration’s 18F digital tech consultancy team filed an appeal Wednesday challenging their alleged wrongful termination and the “targeted” shuttering of the program by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year.
The employees, represented by the law firm Mehri & Skalet, submitted a class-action appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board to request a hearing and have their removal reversed.
Former 18F leaders Lindsay Young, Miatta Myers, Christian Crumlish, James Tranovich and Kate Fisher are named as appellants, representing that larger class of about 80 terminated permanent and term employees from the team who served for more than a year.
The group claims that GSA — along with the Office of Personnel Management, DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget — lacked a “valid reason … for the [reduction in force] targeting 18F” that took place Feb. 28, and claimed the action was a result of “retaliation.”
“The group was targeted to retaliate against them because of their (a) perceived political affiliations or beliefs, (b) First Amendment protected speech and actions supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and (c) actions to resist and blow the whistle on management’s improper handling and transition of control concerning sensitive data and systems,” the filed appeal says.
They go on to say that “GSA did not provide any reason for terminating all 18F staff. The RIF notices to all staff simply say their positions are being abolished,” and claim that “GSA lost money and continues to do so because on-going projects that involved 18F staff and those in the pipeline will not be maintained or completed.”
On top of that, they say DOGE, its unofficial figurehead Elon Musk, OPM and OMB acted beyond the scope of the law by directing or influencing the destruction of the group and termination of its members.
On Feb.1, the appeal explains, Musk reposted on his X social media platform a post from the Daily Wire that focused on 18F’s diversity, equity and inclusion stances, to which he simply replied, “Deleted.”
Soon after, the appellants say, DOGE-installed leaders at GSA, including Technology Transformation Services Director Thomas Shedd, began seeking root access to the group’s systems, which 18F members said was not normal. As members of the digital tech team pushed back on those requests, they said discussions about reductions in force ramped up before notices of termination were delivered Feb. 28.
In a statement posted on a website maintained by former 18F members, the group wrote: “we’re fighting back.”
“The government has to follow the rules — just like the rest of us. We believe the elimination of 18F was unlawful, in violation of safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service,” the post says. “Our appeal to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board seeks to hold the administration accountable for its actions and defend the rule of law.”
The members say in the post that their firing not only impacts them but also the American public, because the projects 18F was undertaking “were exactly the type of technology modernization that DOGE claims to want,” adding that the Musk-linked efficiency group preventing the team from doing that work “underscores that DOGE’s actions are not in service of efficiency.”
“We swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and our commitment to this oath didn’t end with our termination. That’s why we’re fighting back. Whatever the outcome of our appeal, we will never stop looking for ways to serve the American people. We are grateful to our friends, families, and community for their ongoing support,” the appellants wrote in their post, saying they stand in solidarity with other terminated federal employees to “advocate for the public interest and the rule of law.”
