On Thursday, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered multiple agencies to reinstate tens of thousands of probationary employees fired as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to shrink the federal workforce, calling the terminations a “sham.”
U.S. District Judge William Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, ruled that the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Dennis Ezell, unlawfully directed mass firings across six agencies, including the Departments of Defense, the Treasury, Energy, Agriculture, the Interior, and Veterans Affairs.
Alsup explained that he believes neither OPM nor its acting director had statutory authority to direct terminations across agencies. Under federal law, individual agencies hold discretion over firing employees, and the judge noted that he did not trust that the Trump administration faithfully found that the layoffs were based on individual performance.
“It is a sad, 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,” Alsup said at the end of a hearing on the union’s request for a preliminary injunction. “That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to avoid statutory requirements.”
Notably, Alsup defended himself from anticipated criticism. He said a “crazy judge in San Francisco,” jokingly referring to himself, could not restrain agencies’ ability to reduce their workforces under the law. “This case is not about that,” Alsop said, accusing OPM of using a loophole to fire federal employees en masse.
Alsup contended that agencies have the power to reduce their force but said they must “comply with the statutory requirements,” pointing to lawful means of workforce reductions through the Reduction In Force guidelines and the Civil Services Act.
The judge further accused OPM of obstructing the court’s investigation by keeping Ezell from testifying in the early stages of litigation. “The government, I believe, has tried to frustrate the judge’s ability to get at the truth … and then settle with sham declarations,” he said.
Alsup also barred the VA and other agencies from relying on similarly-worded memos issued by OPM, stating, “Defendants have attempted to recast these directives as mere guidance.”
The judge’s latest order follows his ruling on Feb. 27, which provided temporary relief and stated that the mass firings were likely unlawful. He also ordered OPM to notify certain agencies that the office lacked the authority to mandate terminations.
Shortly after that decision, Ezell and OPM issued revised guidance, instructing department leaders that they were not required to take any “specific performance-based actions” regarding probationary employees.
“Agencies have ultimate decision-making authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions,” the revised memo said.
On Thursday, a Justice Department lawyer defending the Trump administration pushed back on the judge’s assertions that the administration told a “lie,” arguing that the firings were part of a well-publicized agenda.
“It starts to sound a bit conspiratorial to think that these press releases coming out of multiple agencies … were anything but a clear agenda priority for the administration,” the Trump DOJ attorney said.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TELLS AGENCIES TO FIRE FEDERAL WORKERS ON PROBATION
The ruling marks one of the strongest legal rebukes of Trump’s federal workforce policies and is expected to be appealed.
The Washington Examiner contacted representatives for the DOJ and the White House for comment.
