A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of probationary employees fired at the direction of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Probationary employees are federal workers in the first or second year of their employment, depending on the type of their service.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled from the bench that employees from six federal departments — Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Defense, and Treasury — were improperly fired and must be immediately reinstated.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought against OPM by unions representing federal workers and non-governmental organizations who were affected by the firings.
The dispute stems from a Feb. 13 directive from OPM and its new acting director Charles Ezell that federal agencies across the country should terminate tens of thousands of federal probationary employees. The agencies were to use a standardized form, allegedly drafted by OPM, to provide the notice of termination.
The suit, filed Feb. 19, asked the court to invalidate the firings on grounds that OPM does not have statutory authority to fire agency employees. That power belongs to the agencies.
On Feb. 23, the plaintiffs asked for a temporary restraining order to halt ongoing firings while the dispute was pending.
“These mass firings of federal workers were not just an attack on government agencies and their ability to function, they were also a direct assault on public lands, wildlife, and the rule of law.”
Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project
Alsup, a judge known for his direct no-nonsense approach, heard arguments form the lawyers on Feb. 27 and based on those presentations issued a temporary restraining order. He found that while OPM had authority to hire and fire its own employees, it “did not have the authority to direct the firing of employees, probationary or otherwise, in any other federal agency.”
OPM alleged that it did not “order” the firings, it just “asked” the agencies to undertake a “focused review” of their probationary employees. Alsup said that the plaintiffs had submitted a mountain of material to the contrary, and based on that, he found the firings were likely “illegal, invalid and must be stopped and rescinded.”
The judge then ordered Thursday’s evidentiary hearing. At the end of the hearing, he extended the earlier order and directed the immediate reinstatement of the terminated employees from the six agencies.
Alsup also ordered that there be no further termination of probationary employees, and directed OPM not to give guidance to any federal agency on which employees should be terminated.
Questioning OPM’s authority
The judge has not yet issued his written opinion, but according to Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, one of the plaintiffs in the case, who observed the hearing, the judge was concerned that the documents submitted to the court by the government were “sanitized” and incomplete.
Molvar said that the judge was “basically accusing the DOJ of hiding documents that don’t support their case.”
Molvar estimated that the ruling affects thousands of employees in the six agencies, though the precise number is not yet known.
According to Danielle Leonard, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, “The law is clear that OPM has no authority to order the federal agencies to fire their employees. Today’s ruling is an important first step in holding this administration accountable for these unlawful acts.”
Molvar said, “These mass firings of federal workers were not just an attack on government agencies and their ability to function, they were also a direct assault on public lands, wildlife, and the rule of law.”
A request for comment from the lawyer representing the government was not immediately accepted.
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