Former IRS human resources chief Traci DiMartini is fighting back after being fired for allegedly telling employees that agency firings came from DOGE-controlled Office of Personnel Management and refusing to call staff into weekend work during tax season.
Placed on leave Monday for "ineffective management" and "insubordination," DiMartini, a 21-year government veteran with no prior disciplinary issues, claims DOGE is attempting to "politicize human capital" by hiring only loyalists while ignoring civil service protections.
"They have no idea who they picked a f—king fight with," she stated, vowing to challenge her dismissal despite not planning to return to federal employment.
The ousted head of human resources at the IRS, Traci DiMartini, is vowing to fight back after she says she was fired for telling IRS employees that agency firings came from the DOGE-controlled Office of Personnel Management.
DiMartini was placed on leave Monday for alleged “ineffective management” of the Trump administration’s mass federal employee purge, as well as “insubordination” toward the Department of Government Efficiency. She says she was fired not only for telling IRS staff where firings were coming from but also because she refused to call employees into the office over the weekend to onboard a DOGE staffer after they were putting in “60–70 hour” workweeks in the midst of tax season.
“They’re trying to politicize human capital,” DiMartini told Government Executive. “They want to be able to hire only loyalists, ignore Title 5 [of the U.S. Code] and commit flagrant prohibited personnel practices. When you look at the Merit Systems Protections Board and what the civil protections are, we’re supposed to have a nonpartisan civil service, and we have been completely whipsawed.”