Second judge orders Trump administration to rehire probationary workers let go in mass firings
The Hindu
Judge blocks mass firings of federal probationary workers, orders reinstatement, sparking legal battle over Trump administration's downsizing efforts.
A judge in Maryland has blocked for now the mass firings of probationary federal workers and ordered thousands of fired probationary workers to be reinstated, marking the second decision of its kind in a day.
The order from U.S. District Judge James Bredar came late on Thursday (March 13, 2025) in a lawsuit filed by 19 states and the District of Columbia against multiple federal agencies alleging the mass firings are illegal.
The states contend the Trump administration blindsided them by ignoring laws set out for large-scale layoffs, which already are having an impact on state governments as they try to help the suddenly jobless. At least 24,000 probationary employees have been terminated since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, the lawsuit alleges, though efforts by the judge to get an estimate from a Government Attorney at a hearing on Wednesday (March 12, 2025) were unsuccessful.
The Trump administration argues that the states have no right to try and influence the federal government’s relationship with its own workers. Mr. Trump, a Republican, has said he is targeting fraud, waste and abuse in a bloated federal government.
A federal judge in San Francisco ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands, if not tens of thousands, of probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies, blasting their tactics on Thursday (March 13, 2025) as he slowed the new president's dramatic downsizing of the federal government.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that the terminations were directed by the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Charles Ezell, who lacked the authority to do so.
The administration immediately filed an appeal of the injunction with the Ninth Circuit Court. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier on Thursday (March 13, 2025) cast the ruling as an attempt to encroach on executive power to hire and fire employees. “The Trump Administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order,” she said in a statement.
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