Although he declined to extend his order statewide, a federal judge on Tuesday permanently prevented the Trump administration from firing thousands of probationary staff.
No matter where they really worked, probationary employees who were fired from 18 agencies were earlier ordered to be temporarily reinstated by U.S. District Judge James Bredar.
The judge’s latest preliminary injunction, which includes the Defense Department and the Office of Personnel Management, replaces that ruling.
However, it also restricts the reinstatements to only those workers whose “duty station” is in one of the 19 states that are suing or Washington, D.C.
This is the only place where states have filed lawsuits, and exclusively to defend their state interests. Former President Obama’s appointment Bredar wrote, “They are not proxies for the workers.”
“Presumably well informed, each state is entitled to decide for itself whether it will seek relief in the present circumstances; it would be inappropriate for the Court to fashion relief having the consequence that decisions properly reserved to the non-party states are effectively, and unnecessarily overruled by this Court,” he added.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump administration have sought to drastically reduce federal bureaucracy, which includes firing a large number of federal employees who are on probation—typically individuals who are in their first or second year of employment.
The mass terminations, according to Bredar, amount to a “reduction in force,” or RIF, which calls for notice and other protocols that the Trump administration disregarded.
“The government can terminate probationary employees en masse…. but when it does so it must follow certain laws and regulations,” the judge stated. “Recently, government agencies executed a series of mass terminations, but when they did so, on the record before the Court, they failed to follow mandatory RIF procedures.”
In the mass layoffs at the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, probationary workers were among those let go under Bredar’s directive.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Small Business Administration, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are also covered.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, or Washington, D.C., are the only states where the employees are required to work.
Some GOP lawmakers are taking steps to limit district courts’ authority to provide relief beyond the parties before them, and Republicans have been increasingly critical of district judges in recent weeks for blocking Trump’s initiatives nationwide.
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Although it is only one of several lawsuits pending in the courts, Bredar’s decision is the most comprehensive injunction currently preventing the Trump administration’s attempt to fire probationary employees.
In a another case, the Trump administration has appealed to the Supreme Court a judge’s decision to reinstate 16,000 probationary employees in six agencies.
Following the plaintiffs’ written response on Thursday, the court is anticipated to make a decision regarding the emergency application.
This information has been sourced from thehill.
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