A federal judge on Thursday ordered six federal agencies to rehire thousands of workers with probationary status who had been fired as part of President Trump’s government-gutting initiative.
Ruling from the bench, Judge William J. Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California went further than he had previously, finding that the Trump administration’s firing of probationary workers had essentially been done unlawfully and by fiat through the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources arm.
He directed the Treasury and the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Interior Departments to comply with his order and offer to reinstate any employees who were improperly terminated. His order stemmed from a lawsuit brought by employee unions who challenged the legality of the mass firings.
Judge Alsup concluded that the government’s actions were a “gimmick” designed to expeditiously carry out mass firings.
He said it was clear that federal agencies had followed directives from the Office of Personnel Management to use a loophole allowing them to fire probationary workers en masse based on poor performance, regardless of their actual conduct on the job.
“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,” he said.
“It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements,” he added.
Before handing down the ruling, Judge Alsup was careful to clarify with lawyers representing the unions that “reduction in force” orders now being issued at several agencies were still legal and could go forward.
He said he said his finding that the earlier wave, recommended by the Office of Personnel and Management, was an overreach of executive authority, did not stand in the way of a proper process.
“If it’s done right, there can be a reduction in force within an agency, that has to be true,” Judge Alsup said.
“Congress itself has said you can have an agency can do a reduction in force, if it’s done correctly under the law,” he added, drawing an acknowledgment by a lawyer representing the unions.
Judge Alsup had originally planned to have Trump administration officials appear to testify about the process through which the layoffs were planned, but the government made clear Wednesday that Charles Ezell, the acting head of Office of Personnel Management, would not appear.
The judge’s decision on Thursday, which also extends a restraining order last month blocking the Office of Personnel Management from orchestrating further mass firings, offered a temporary reprieve for federal workers unions who have resisted the Trump administration’s initiatives.
Danielle Leonard, a lawyer representing the unions, noted again during the hearing that the directives had had a devastating effect on agencies, by culling not only younger workers and recent graduates, but even career civil servants who had recently been promoted and were in a probationary period in their more senior positions.
“This action by O.P.M. made Swiss cheese of the federal agencies at every level,” she said.
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