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Major setback for Trump! Federal judge demands rehiring of thousands of US government workers, calls layoffs ‘unlawful’
A federal judge in San Francisco ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of employees fired in February, making the Office of Personnel Management's directive to fire them unlawful.
A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of new government employees who were fired in February.
Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for Northern California said that the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) directive to fire probationary employees was unlawful.
“It is a sad day when our government would fire a good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that is a lie,” Alsup said. “That should not have been done in our country.”
Following the order, several government departments - Defense, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Interior, Agriculture, and Treasury - will have to rehire the employees who were fired in February at the direction of the OPM.
Calling the OPM’s template termination letter for agencies a ‘sham’, Alsup said, “Each of the agencies must submit a list of terminated probationary employees to the court within a week explaining what has been done for each.”
The ruling is a major blow to the Trump administration’s campaign to quickly shrink the size of the federal workforce. Federal worker layoffs are expected to reach into the hundreds of thousands in coming weeks.
Alsup had earlier issued a temporary halt on further agency layoffs ordered by OPM or its acting director, Charles Ezell.
At the hearing Thursday, Alsup criticized the government’s handling of the firings and the subsequent litigation. He pointed to evidence of agencies firing employees under the auspices of low performance when in fact they had just received glowing reviews.
Judge Alsup, appointed by Bill Clinton, criticized the government for refusing to allow acting OPM director Charles Ezell to testify on Thursday about the reasoning behind the agency’s directive. Ezell had initially submitted a sworn written statement explaining OPM’s decision, but the government withdrew it after Alsup ordered him to testify and face cross-examination.
Ezell should have faced cross-examination so that “we get to the truth,” Alsup told the government’s attorney at the Thursday hearing.
“I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth,” he said.
“It upsets me,” Alsup said. “I’ve been serving in or on this court for over 50 years” and “you’re giving me press releases, sham documents” instead of live witnesses, he said.
Trump administration to fight back
It’s likely the government will appeal Thursday’s order. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement said the Trump administration would “immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order.”
“The president has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch—singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the president’s agenda,” she said.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
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Business NewsNewsUs NewsMajor setback for Trump! Federal judge demands rehiring of thousands of US government workers, calls layoffs ‘unlawful’
First Published:14 Mar 2025, 05:46 AM IST
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