United States: Judge William Alsup issued a federal order directing the Office of Personnel Management to cancel directives that resulted in mass probationary worker terminations throughout the federal bureaucracy since they were likely illegal based on union court arguments.
More about the news
More than two dozen government agencies received orders from OPM to terminate their workers through a court-mandated reversal.
Judge William Alsup required OPM to cancel its original directives to the Department of Defense and other agencies involved in a lawsuit.
The government must maintain the status quo through the upcoming weeks while this decision prevents major restrictions on federal workforce reduction that President Donald Trump has proposed, as the Washington Post reported.
Judge’s ruling in detail
The judge’s ruling provided no details about when or if any advantages could reach federal workers who were already dismissed from service.
“Congress has given the authority to hire and fire to the agencies themselves. The Department of Defense, for example, has statutory authority to hire and fire,” Alsup added from the bench as he handed down the ruling Thursday evening in federal court in San Francisco.
“The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire and fire employees at another agency. They can hire and fire their own employees,” he added.
When asked for comment, the OPM spokesperson refused to give an immediate statement. Judge William Conley prevented the Defense Department from starting employee terminations on Fridays, according to his judicial statement.
The judge gave no specific instructions about agency workforce actions apart from the defense department. A written judicial order will be issued later while another hearing court session is scheduled for March 13.
The American Federation of Government Employees, together with union plaintiffs and advocacy groups, alleged before the court that OPM violated the law with its February mandate to dismiss all new government employees during their first or second year, the Washington Post reports.
Certain established workers in new positions are categorized under the probationary employee status.
Furthermore, “This ruling by Judge Alsup is an important initial victory for patriotic Americans across this country who were illegally fired from their jobs by an agency that had no authority to do so,” added Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees.
“These are rank-and-file workers who joined the federal government to make a difference in their communities, only to be suddenly terminated due to this administration’s disdain for federal employees and desire to privatise their work,” he continued.