Judge says Trump administration unlawfully ordered mass federal worker firings

The case was brought by unions, nonprofits and the state of Washington after the Trump administration sought to dismiss about 25,000 probationary employees. These workers usually have less than a year in service, though some were long-serving staff who had recently moved into new jobs.

Alsup wrote, “Ordinarily I would set aside OPM’s unlawful directive and unwind its consequences, returning the parties to the ex ante status quo, and as a consequence, probationers to their posts.”

But he noted that the US Supreme Court has made clear it will block court-ordered relief concerning hiring and firing in the executive branch. In April, the court had paused an injunction from Alsup that would have reinstated about 17,000 workers at six agencies while the case continued.

Alsup said too much had changed since then, with many of the employees having taken other jobs and the administration restructuring parts of government.

Still, he said the workers “continue to be harmed by OPM’s pretextual termination ‘for performance,’ and that harm can be redressed without reinstatement.”

He ordered 19 agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior and Treasury, to correct employees’ records by 14 November and banned them from following OPM instructions to fire staff.

Lawyers for the workers and the White House did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.