A federal judge on Thursday ordered federal agencies to rehire tens of thousands of probationary employees who were fired amid President Donald Trump’s turbulent effort to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy. U.S. District Judge William Alsup described the mass firings as a “sham” strategy by the government’s central human resources office to sidestep legal requirements for reducing the federal workforce. Alsup, a San Francisco-based appointee of President Bill Clinton, ordered the Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs departments to “immediately” offer all fired probationary employees their jobs back. The Office of Personnel Management, the judge said, had made an “unlawful” decision to terminate them. And even if it is upheld on appeal, it does not guarantee that all the workers will be able to get their jobs back permanently: Alsup made clear that agencies still have the authority to implement “reductions in force,” as long as they follow the proper procedures for doing so. Federal agencies are currently finalizing “reduction in force” plans. Alsup issued his ruling in a lawsuit brought by federal employee unions. He lashed out at the Justice Department over its handling of the case, saying he believes that Trump administration lawyers were hiding the facts about who directed the mass firings. “You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross examination would reveal the truth,” the judge said to a DOJ attorney during a hearing Thursday. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth. … I’m tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth.” Alsup also said the administration attempted to circumvent federal laws on reducing the workforce by attributing the firings to “performance” when that was not in fact the case. The judge called the move “a gimmick.”
Alsup emphasized that he was not ruling that the government is unable to lay off personnel at federal agencies, but that the Trump administration was in such a hurry to do so that it shunted aside federal laws that dictate the procedures for a so-called RIF. Alsup is also seeking answers about the administration’s position that fired federal workers should have to seek relief from two executive branch agencies tasked with supervising federal workplace issues: the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The judge expressed concern that Trump’s effort to remove members of those boards might render them ineffective.
Alsup had ordered the acting head of OPM, Charles Ezell, to appear at the hearing Thursday so he could be cross-examined about his claims that the personnel office did not direct any firings but simply provided guidance to other agencies about how to carry out the dismissals. However, Justice Department lawyers told Alsup earlier this week that Ezell would not appear, and the government withdrew a sworn declaration Ezell submitted earlier in the case. At one point Thursday, the judge reprimanded Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Helland for the government’s decision not to make witnesses available. “You’re not helping me get at the truth. You’re giving me press releases, sham documents,” the frustrated judge said, adding, “I’m getting mad at you and I shouldn’t. You’re trying to do your best, and I apologize.” Helland, who sat alone at the table for government counsel, argued that the agencies made the firing decisions, and he said the timing was driven by the urgency of Trump’s agenda, not any moves by OPM. “Everybody knew the new administration was prioritizing this and the political appointments wanted to comply with that administration priority,” the DOJ attorney said. “This was not an order by OPM.” But the judge noted that some agencies told employees they were instructed by OPM to fire every probationary employee deemed non-essential. Probationary status is extremely common in the federal workforce. Many newly hired employees are required to begin their tenure as probationary employees, and employees are also often required to spend time on probationary status after being promoted. Probationary employees do not enjoy many of the civil service protections as non-probationary workers. One of the attorneys challenging the dismissals emphasized Thursday that some newly-promoted employees with lengthy tenure at agencies were caught up in the mass firings. The suit the judge acted on Thursday was brought by federal employee labor unions along with non-profit groups that said their work would be negatively impacted by the firings in places like national parks and veterans’ hospitals.
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the mass firing of federal employees was an “unlawful” directive by the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered several agencies to “immediately” reinstate all fired probationary employees. Those agencies included the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as the Departments of Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Agriculture. That would also restore numbers at the Internal Revenue Service, which falls under the helm of the Treasury Department and has been hit hard by job cuts in recent weeks. In a hearing leading up to the decision, Alsup torched the Trump administration’s decision not to submit OPM director Chad Ezell for questioning as a “sham,” and accused the White House’s effort to cast the firings as performance failures as “a gimmick.” “It is sad, 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, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney. The Trump administration has fired at least 30,000 employees with the help of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has made a point to target probationary employees still within the first year of their roles. Some of those employees have been called to return, but most are still not working, reported Axios. Alsup’s order comes as federal agencies are due to submit “reduction memos” to the White House that could affect as many as 250,000 additional federal employees who fit that criteria. Alsup further accused the administration of hiding the facts of who directed the layoffs.“You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross-examination would reveal the truth,” the California judge told a DOJ attorney, according to Politico. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth.… I’m tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth.”
