A federal judge has ordered half a dozen federal agencies to “immediately” reinstate probationary employees fired last month as part of the Trump administration’s effort to rapidly shrink the federal workforce.
The preliminary injunction issued from the bench by US District Judge William Alsup requires the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior and Treasury to rehire the employees. The judge said that he might extend the order to cover other federal agencies at a later time.
Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said he was making the ruling because he believes the Office of Personnel Management unlawfully directed the agencies earlier this year to lay off the probationary employees, who generally have been on the job for less than a year.
“The court finds that Office of Personnel Management did direct all agencies to terminate probationary employees with the exception of mission-critical employees,” he said, rejecting arguments from the Justice Department that OPM merely issued “guidance” to the agencies that then led to the firings.
The judge said the order is effective immediately: “This is the order and it counts.”
The ruling came after Alsup unloaded on the Justice Department for not making the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management available to testify about the Trump administration’s decision to fire scores of probationary employees.
He had ordered acting OMB director Charles Ezell to testify Thursday, where he would likely face tough questions from attorneys representing labour unions and others that are challenging his agency’s role in the firings.
But the Justice Department refused to make him available and instead withdrew a declaration Ezell submitted last month that had served as the government’s only evidence in the case.
“You’re afraid to do so because you know cross-examination will reveal the truth,” Alsup told DOJ attorney Kelsey Helland. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth.”
Alsup told the DOJ attorney Thursday: “You can’t just say, ‘Here’s a declaration, you have to accept it without question’ when there is a question.”
“You’re not helping me get at the truth. You’re giving me press releases – sham documents,” the judge said, referring to documents submitted by the DOJ to the court that they say show how the agencies were making the termination decisions themselves.
The declaration from Ezell said that OPM did not “direct” other agencies to terminate probationary employees — the central issue in the case brought by labour unions and others. But Alsup has already said that the evidence in the case “points in favour” of the plaintiffs, and he’s cast doubt on the Justice Department’s argument that various federal agencies fired probationary employees because of their own decision-making.
