Judge rules mass firings of federal probationary employees is likely illegal

A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday found that the mass firings of probationary employees were likely unlawful, granting some temporary relief to a coalition of labor unions and organizations that has sued to stop the Trump administration's massive trimming of the federal workforce.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees, including the Department of Defense.

"OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe," to hire or fire any employees but its own, he said.