The Trump administration’s attempt to significantly reduce the federal workforce hit a speed bump Thursday after a judge ruled that six federal agencies must “immediately” offer thousands of fired employees their jobs back.
A federal judge, William Alsup, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled that it was illegal for the Office of Personnel Management to fire the thousands of probationary employees in February.
The order applies to the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.
Judge Alsup, who was a Clinton appointee, described the firings as an Office of Personnel “sham” to try to avoid the legal hurdles associated with shrinking the size of the workforce by firing the laborers for “poor” performance without actually evaluating their performances.
“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,” Judge Alsup said. “That should not have been done in our country.”
Many probationary employees were fired for alleged performance issues, even though they had previously received positive reviews from their supervisors. Judge Alsup also had harsh words for the administration and accused it of trying to hide the identity of the person who directed the 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,” he said during a hearing on 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.”
Lawyers for the government have defended its decision to fire the probationary employees. They said OPM did not direct the probationary employees to be fired but asked agencies to evaluate whether those employees should be kept on the job. They also pointed out that probationary laborers, employees who have typically been working at an agency for one to two years and do not have the same civil service protections as non-probationary employees, are not guaranteed employment.
During Thursday’s hearing, a lawyer for the Justice Department, Kelsey Helland, pushed back on the suggestion that the firings were ordered by OPM instead of by agency heads.
“Everybody knew the new administration was prioritizing this, and the political appointments wanted to comply with that administration priority. This was not an order by OPM,” Mr. Helland said.
In response to Judge Alsup’s ruling, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “A single judge is attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the Executive Branch. The President has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch.”
“If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for President themselves. The Trump Administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order,” she said.
Judge Alsup’s ruling marks another blow for the administration, which is trying to quickly reduce the size of the federal workforce. Earlier this month, he ruled that the firing of probationary employees was illegal and issued a temporary restraining order to block future such firings at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Park Service, the Small Business Administration, the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Defense, and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Last week, a federal civil service board ordered the Trump administration to reinstate more than 5,000 probationary employees at the Department of Agriculture for at least 45 days.
While Judge Alsup ordered the reinstatement of the probationary employees, that does not necessarily mean they will return to their jobs or that they will not be fired in the future. The judge said that the administration can fire federal employees if it takes the time to follow steps required to order a “reduction in force.”
“The words that I give you today should not be taken that some wild-and-crazy judge in San Francisco said that an administration cannot engage in a reduction in force,” Judge Alsup said. “It can be done, if it’s done in accordance with the law.”
His ruling comes after the Department of Education sent out “reduction in force” notifications and announced its intention to slash that agency’s workforce by roughly 50 percent. The total number of job cuts across the government are expected to reach nearly 250,000 in the coming weeks.
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