A Maryland judge has temporarily blocked the mass firings by the federal government of probationary employees and ordered the reinstatement of thousands of them. This is the second such decision of the day.
Judge James Bredar issued the order late on Thursday, in response to a lawsuit brought by 19 states as well as the District of Columbia alleging that the mass firings were illegal.
Bredar wrote: “In this instance, the government made massive layoffs but did not give advance notice.” It claims that it was not required to do so because it said it had dismissed each of the thousands of probationary workers for “performance” or other individual reasons. This is not true. No individual assessments were made of the employees. All of them were fired. Collectively.”
States claim that the Trump administration has blindsided them, ignoring laws for mass layoffs. This is already having an effect on state governments who are trying to assist the newly jobless. The lawsuit claims that at least 24,000 probationary workers have been terminated by President Trump since he took office. However, a judge’s attempt to obtain an estimate of the number from the government attorney during a hearing on Wednesday was unsuccessful.
The Trump administration claims that states do not have the right to influence the relationship between the federal government and its own employees. Mr. Trump has stated that he is targeting fraud, abuse and waste in an overburdened federal government.
Bredar’s temporary restraining orders issued a stay of 14 days on what he deemed “illegal” reductions to force. However, his order did not cover firings from Department of Defense or the National Archives and Records Administration and Office of Personnel Management.
Bredar wrote: “Thus, even though it’s a close call at this stage, given that a TRO ‘is an extraordinary remedy that can only be granted upon a showing that the plaintiff has a right to such relief ,’…, there is not enough evidence in the record to allow the Court to conclude RIFs occurred at these agencies.”
A federal judge in San Francisco ordered earlier Thursday that the Trump administration rehire thousands – if not even tens thousands – of probationary employees who were fired in a mass firing across multiple agencies.
U.S. district judge William Alsup stated that the Office of Personnel Management, and its acting Director, Charles Ezell were responsible for the terminations, but did not have the authority to make them.
The Ninth Circuit Court received an immediate appeal from the administration. Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, had earlier on Thursday characterized the ruling as an effort to restrict executive authority to hire and terminate employees.
In a press release, she stated that “the Trump Administration will immediately fight against this absurd and constitutionally unconstitutional Order.”
Alsup’s directive tells the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior, and the Treasury departments to offer immediate job reinstatement for employees who were terminated between Feb. 13-14. Alsup also instructed the departments to submit a report within seven days on the list of probationary staff and how they complied with the order for each individual.
