Federal Judge Stuns DC – Orders Thousands Of Fired Workers Reinstated

​On Thursday afternoon, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered six federal agencies to reinstate thousands of probationary employees who were terminated as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce.

The affected agencies include the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior and Treasury.

Judge Alsup, a San Francisco-based Clinton appointee, ruled that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)—the federal government’s human resources office—lacked the authority to mandate these terminations and criticized the agency for directing the firings under the pretense of performance issues, despite many employees having received positive evaluations. He described such actions as deceptive, stating, “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.”

Politico has additional details on Alsup’s ruling—including that the fired workers be rehired immediately:

Alsup also lashed out at the Justice Department over its handling of the case, saying he believes that Trump administration lawyers were hiding the facts about who directed the mass firings.

“You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross examination would reveal the truth,” the judge said to a DOJ attorney during a hearing Thursday. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth. … I’m tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth.”

Alsup also said the administration attempted to circumvent federal laws on reducing the workforce by attributing the firings to “performance” when that was not in fact the case. The judge called the move “a gimmick.”

Previously, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) ordered the Department of Agriculture to temporarily reinstate nearly 6,000 probationary employees, finding reasonable grounds to believe that the terminations violated federal law. Additionally, a federal judge blocked President Trump’s plan to place thousands of USAID workers on leave, highlighting the administration’s overreach in its efforts to reduce the federal workforce.

Alsup’s ruling comes amid a series of legal challenges against the mass firings of probationary federal workers and is almost certain to be appealed.

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