A coalition of unions, scientific groups and local governments filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to block the Federal Emergency Management Agency from cutting its staff, arguing that, by doing so, agency leaders are violating laws mandating that FEMA maintain capabilities to respond to disasters.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, seeks to block the dismissals of hundreds of contract workers at FEMA that began at the start of the year. About 1,000 employees were expected to lose their jobs this month, although the agency paused the cuts last week in anticipation of a winter storm that raged across the country, according to internal FEMA emails reviewed by The New York Times.
The lawsuit also asks a judge to prevent FEMA leaders from carrying out plans to eliminate about half of the agency’s work force, which this month stood at about 23,000. Documents reviewed by The Times detailed potential cuts of more than 11,500 jobs, but Daniel Llargués, a FEMA spokesman, said it was part of “a routine, pre-decisional work force planning exercise” and that there was no “percentage-based work force reduction plan.”
FEMA officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday about the lawsuit.
The disaster agency has faced significant upheaval over the past year, starting with comments by President Trump in the early days of his second term suggesting that his administration may eliminate FEMA in its current form. He asked Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, whose department includes FEMA, to head a task force that would recommend ways to shift more of the responsibility, and cost, for disaster management to the states. Those plans remain in limbo.
In the meantime, FEMA’s role helping states and communities recover from disasters has shifted drastically. While the agency continues to respond to emergencies like the recent winter storm, communities months or years removed from disaster say they are still waiting for FEMA aid that is stuck in reviews. A bottleneck of disaster aid owed to states has surpassed $17 billion, according to documents reviewed by The Times.
The lawsuit argues that staffing losses will only make it harder for FEMA to help disaster-struck communities.
The disaster workers dismissed in January were known as FEMA’s Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees, or CORE. According to the lawsuit, they form the “backbone” of many disaster preparation and response activities.
“For example, in the aftermath of a disaster, CORE employees perform key functions such as assisting survivors access temporary housing, food, water, and medical care,” the lawsuit said. “The ongoing nonrenewal of CORE employees, along with the other planned staffing cuts, will greatly reduce FEMA’s ability to provide these lifesaving services.”
The lawsuit cites federal code requiring that federal emergency response teams must “consist of adequate numbers of properly planned, organized, equipped, trained, and exercised personnel.”
It also cites a FEMA overhaul law passed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 prohibiting the Homeland Security Department from significant reductions to FEMA’s functions and capabilities. Ms. Noem has exerted significant control over FEMA since taking over the Homeland Security Department last year, including through a directive that her office must approve any expenditures of $100,000 or more.
The suit was filed as an amendment to one of a series of earlier complaints about broad cuts to the federal work force last spring.
Plaintiffs include the American Federation of Government Employees; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the Service Employees International Union; the American Geophysical Union; the American Public Health Association; and the governments of Baltimore; Chicago; Harris County, Texas; Martin Luther King Jr. County, Wash.; San Francisco; and Santa Clara County, Calif.
Scott Dance is a Times reporter who covers how climate change and extreme weather are transforming society.
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