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On February 20th, approximately 7,000 probation employees of the Internal Revenue Service began receiving unsigned letters informing them that they had been fired due to poor performance.
Lawyers for the Trump administration allege that the IRS and other federal agencies acted within their authority when they ordered a wave of mass layoffs since Trump took office. However, according to a previously unreported email obtained by Propublica, the IRS’s top lawyer warned that the performance-related language in the agency’s firing letter was a “false statement” and that if the agency kept the language in the letter it amounted to “fake”.
The email reveals that a fierce dispute will take place at the agency’s highest level just hours before the IRS sends its February 20th filing letter.
Joseph Lilotta, a senior IRS lawyer, wrote that he was “no one” in the IRS, taking into account the performance of probation workers who are expected to be fired. Rillotta urged the language to be slashed from the draft sacking letter.
If the falsehood is not removed, Lilotta said she will submit a report to an IRS inspector.
Excerpt from an email written by IRS lawyer Joseph Rillotta Credit: Retrieved by Propublica
It appears no one has responded to Rillotta’s first email. In a follow-up email, he said “I am appealing to you to remove the clause,” saying, “it is not a non-material false statement because it is designed to improve the government’s attitude in the lawsuit (to the disadvantage of employees we have ended today).”
It wasn’t true, so he wrote:
Lilotta was ignored once more. The IRS has included a February 20 termination notice in it, according to a copy received by fired workers that they shared with Propublica. According to the notice, the decision to fire a worker received administrative guidance and “current mission needs” as well as “take your performance into consideration.”
Excerpt from termination notification sent to probation employees on IRS credit: Retrieved by Propublica
In fact, many of the employees received praise reviews without suggesting concern.
Soon afterwards, IRS inspectors took preliminary steps to investigate the issue, according to someone familiar with efforts not allowed to speak to reporters. The person said he told investigators he agreed with Lilotta that the rationale for the performance was wrong.
Michel Berkovich, a lawyer representing federal workers, told Propoblica that Lilotta’s ignored warning should facilitate plaintiffs to show that mass shootings are “arbitrarily and whimsical,” and that legal standards are necessary to override federal agency litigation. She added that the email could help plaintiffs recover lawyers’ fees from the government.
“When an agency acts on false information, it’s not just setting the action because it’s being overturned,” she said. “That also means that agents may not have much defense against their actions and may be liable for fees.”
A spokesperson for the Treasury and IRS did not respond to requests for comment. The Human Resources spokesman’s office introduced Propublica in an amended memorandum stating that OPM “does not instruct the agency to take certain performance-based actions regarding probation employees.”
The end of the tax agency was one of the deep cuts to federal agencies through the efficiency of the Trump administration and its government led by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk.
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Several federal lawsuits are currently challenging the Trump administration’s mass shootings. Last week, two federal judges temporarily blocked the IRS and other terminations, but the lawsuit continues.
The question of whether the basis for performance was legal was at the heart of the lawsuit. One lawsuit brought by a group of unions, advocacy groups and other parties in California federal courts alleges that OPM directed a probation shooting, “conveying one of the largest employment frauds in the country’s history and that tens of thousands of workers have been accused of performance reasons.”
In response, the administrative attorney denied that OPM directs probation workers to be fired based on performance or misconduct. Instead, the submission stated, “The OPM reminded the agency of the importance of probationary periods in assessing the ongoing employment of applicants, and directed them to identify all employees during their probation period and to quickly decide whether those employees should be retained at the agency.”
The plaintiff later expanded the suit, overseeing the Ministry of Finance, which oversees the IRS, as one of the defendants. In mid-March, Judge William Alsup issued a preliminary injunction in the case, saying the administration’s probation shooting was based on “lies.” Alsup has ordered several federal agencies, including the Treasury, to revive thousands of fired employees. The Trump administration appealed to the Allsup ruling.
Another lawsuit filed in Maryland federal court by almost 20 Democratic state attorney generals also argues that mass shootings on the IRS are illegal and should be reversed. (In that case, the administrative lawyer argued that mass shootings were legal.)
In both cases, court filings have partially revealed how the administration chose to make a legally suspicious decision to fire a large number of probation workers based on the basis of their performance.
The IRS began plans to fire probation employees in early February, according to an affidavit filed in the Maryland case.
A high-ranking Treasury official instructed a senior IRS employee named Traci Dimartini to identify all probation IRS employees and fire them “on performance basis” and “on performance basis” according to Dimartini, which later filed in court.
DiMartini “I have never heard of the layoffs of employees on mass probation,” she said in her affidavit.
Excerpt from an affidavit filed in federal court by IRS human capital employee Traci Dimartini
When Dimartini asked Treasury officials why they fired many probation employees, she was told the order came from the OPM.
In her affidavit, DiMartini confirmed that Lilotta had written in his email. Dimartini’s office “did not review or consider” job performance or behavior of probation employees. Nor was the Ministry of Finance. “I know this because this fact was openly discussed at the meeting,” DiMartini said in her affidavit.
Excerpt from Dimartini affidavit filed in federal court
According to Dimartini’s affidavit, OPM drafted the IRS mass termination letter. Treasury officials made some changes to it, but the IRS personnel department, where DiMartini worked, was “not allowed to make any changes to the letter,” DiMartini’s affidavit said.
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According to her affidavit, DiMartini refused to sign the mass termination letter. Douglas O’Donnell, then IRS commissioner, also refused to sign the letter.
When thousands of affected IRS employees finally received the letter, it arrived from a general email account. The agent’s name was not displayed anywhere in the document.
Is there any information you need to know about the IRS, Doge, or Trump administration’s mass shootings? Andy Kroll can be contacted by email [email protected] By Signal or WhatsApp on 202-215-6203.
