Access is important. Slate is offering six months of Slate Plus to current and recently laid-off federal government employees. If you or someone you know has been affected, click here to get six months of Slate Plus free.

The government said in a court filing that Charles Ezell, who issued the memos that agencies interpreted as orders to fire thousands of employees, would not appear in court Thursday.

The Justice Department told a federal judge on Tuesday that the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management won’t testify at a hearing later this week in a major case challenging the government’s efforts to cull the federal workforce,

A federal judge is requiring the head of the Office of Personnel Management to testify Thursday about the mass firing of probationary employees.