Judge orders Trump to reinstate thousands of fired workers

WASHINGTON ― Tens of thousands of federal government probationary workers fired in recent weeks as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce must be reinstated immediately, federal judges in California and Maryland ordered Thursday.

The first decision, from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, is one of the most far-reaching court defeats so far in the Trump administration’s efforts, led by top White House adviser Elon Musk, to gut the federal bureaucracy.

The judge ordered six federal agencies ‒ the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior, and Treasury ‒ to reinstate recently hired or promoted probationary employees who were terminated by the Trump administration.

Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — the federal government’s human resources agency — lacked the authority to order the firings and did so unlawfully. But the judge only cited evidence of improper terminations at the six agencies, declining to order the reinstatement of probationary workers at 16 other agencies cited by unions in a lawsuit challenging the layoffs.

Commendations, awards, positive reviews: Then they were fired for poor performance.

He also said the Trump administration tried to circumvent protections for federal workers by falsely claiming the reason for their termination was their “performance.”

“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” Alsup said.

In a statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the judge of “attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the executive branch” and signaled an appeal was likely. She did not say whether the administration plans to comply with the order.

“The president has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch – singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the president’s agenda,” Leavitt said. “If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for president themselves.”

She added: “The Trump administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order.”

Maryland order echoes California decision

Later Thursday in Maryland, U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar granted a temporary restraining order demanding the Trump administration reinstate federal probationary employees terminated on or after Jan. 20.

The case was filed by attorneys general in 19 states and the District of Columbia, all Democrats.

Bredar, appointed by former President Barack Obama, signed the order after 8 p.m. Thursday, as well as a memorandum stating the federal government must follow the rules when it terminates a large number of employees.

It stayed the terminations of probationary employees across 18 departments and agencies named among the 41 defendants in the case. The order states all affected employees throughout the U.S. shall be reinstated by 1 p.m. Monday.

Among the included departments are Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, and USAID.

The judge also stayed the “illegal RIFs” (reductions in force) for 14 days, and stated the administration shall not conduct any of those reductions unless it meets the regulations that require adequate notice.

Without providing the required advance notice, the federal government layoffs harm the states, which weren’t ready to bear the load of providing the required services to the terminated employees, the order added. It excludes the Office of Personnel Management, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Department of Defense.

Trump’s mass federal workforce cuts: What has happened so far

Union reacts in California case

Alsup’s decision came in a case brought by the American Federation of Government Employees and other government employee unions, which sued seeking to reverse the terminations.

Everett Kelley, national president of AFGE, said the union is pleased by Alsup’s decision to reinstate probationary workers “who were illegally fired from their jobs by an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public.”

Kelley said his union will “keep fighting until all federal employees who were unjustly and illegally fired are given their jobs back.”

Alsup also extended a temporary restraining order that he granted plaintiffs last month to block the OPM from ordering agencies to fire probationary employees. Alsup had declined, at the time, to require that fired workers get their jobs back.

The Trump Justice Department has argued the OPM directive to federal departments, issued in a Jan. 20 memo, was not an order to fire probationary workers but simply to identify probationary workers who were not “mission critical” and could be fired.

Trump presidency: Administration revises directive on mass firings of federal workers

In response to the judge’s prior ruling in February, the OPM on March 4 updated its guidance to say the agency is “not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees,” and that “agencies have ultimate decisionmaking authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.”

But Alsup took exception to the Trump administration citing the update to the memo and press releases as evidence the OPM had no control over the firings. He also admonished the Justice Department attorney representing OPM, Kelsey Helland, for ignoring a court order for the office’s acting director, Charles Ezell, to appear before the court to be cross-examined.

“I’ve been practicing or serving in this court for over 50 years and I know how we get at the truth, and you’re not helping me get at the truth. You’re giving me press releases, sham documents,” Alsup said.

Federal employees in probationary status ‒ targeted in an initial round of Trump firings ‒ were either recently hired or promoted, usually within the past year. They lack civil service protections of career government employees, making them easier to fire for performance issues.

The judge’s decision came as federal departments faced a deadline Thursday to prepare large-scale “reductions in force” as part of a deeper second wave of terminations that go beyond probationary workers by targeting career employees. The judge did not address this second round of firings in his order.

Contributing: Reuters

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.