Mahri Stáinnak at Fisherman’s Point in South Portland on Wednesday. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald

Mahri Stáinnak fell in love with being a federal worker after more than a decade spent overseeing sewage systems and keeping public waterways clean with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Stáinnak, who lives in the Portland area, was honored in 2021 to join the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, and then was shocked earlier this year when they learned they were being placed on paid administrative leave following a pair of executive orders targeting programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Especially because Stáinnak’s current job had nothing to do with DEI.

“I just felt fear,” Stáinnak said in a phone interview Wednesday, recalling when they received the news in the middle of dinner. “My wife was there, my toddler was picking up on the stress and crying. I started panicking because I’m the sole breadwinner right now.”

Stáinnak, who uses they/them pronouns, had just taken the job in talent recruitment less than a month before and is now appealing their removal in a complaint filed Wednesday before the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Stáinnak argues that their firing was an attempt to unlawfully punish them for their perceived political affiliations and their previous work on DEI, “without regard to the worker’s skills or current job assignment.”

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Jan. 20: one for “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit Based Opportunities” and the other for “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences.” Trump has accused these programs of being discriminatory against non-minority groups, such as white men, and unnecessary.

Stáinnak’s lawyers say this violates Stáinnak’s First Amendment rights, and that the firings had an impact on marginalized workers in particular.

“The First Amendment prohibits retaliating against people for their political beliefs or their perceived political beliefs,” said Scott Michelman from the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, D.C. “He went after folks like Mahri, not for what they were doing when they were put on leave and then fired, but for what they used to do.”

At least three other people plan to join Stáinnak’s appeal, including two fired employees from the Department of Labor and one from the Federal Aviation Administration. None of whom were working in DEI-related jobs when they were fired.

Their attorneys suspect the actual number of plaintiffs will be much higher if they are granted class-action status.

In addition to an appeal hearing, Stáinnak’s lawyers have also requested that the government turn over its lists of employees who were fired under Trump’s DEI orders, as well as “communications and guidance from OPM to agencies related to the identification of positions” that were targeted.

When asked about Stáinnak’s appeal, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice wrote in an email that they have “vigorously defended President Trump’s actions, including the order to end radical wasteful government DEI programs, and will continue to do so.”

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said that Trump has the authority to manage personnel across the executive branch.

It’s unclear how soon Stáinnak’s appeal will be considered. It will first be heard by the Merit Systems Protection Board, a quasi-judicial agency whose primary function is to protect federal workers “against partisan political and other prohibited personnel practices.”

“Unfortunately, the Merit Systems Protection Board is not the fastest moving agency, and they are likely to be flooded with claims, particularly right now, with all the disruptions to the federal work force brought about by Trump and Musk,” Michelman said.

If Stáinnak and the rest of the class are unsuccessful in their appeal, Michelman said they have a right to file their case in federal court.

In the meantime, Stáinnak said Wednesday was their last day of paid administrative leave. Over the last couple of months, they have worried about how they’ll afford their mortgage and support their family.

But Stáinnak also believes there’s a greater toll for thousands of nonpolitical career civil servants who have benefited from OPM’s work on expanding their health insurance benefits and working conditions.

“This is patently unfair, unjust,” Stáinnak said. “I want to get back to work on a job that I feel so passionate about, and excited for. I am a proud federal employee, and I know so many other proud federal employees. Let us get back to work.”