SAN FRANCISCO — In a significant ruling, a federal judge has ordered the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to rescind directives that initiated the mass termination of probationary government workers across various agencies. U.S. District Judge William Alsup deemed the terminations likely illegal, siding with a coalition of labor unions that challenged the firings in court.
Judge Alsup's ruling represents a major setback in President Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to reduce the size of the federal workforce. The judge instructed OPM to withdraw its previous directives that affected agencies including the Department of Defense, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Science Foundation.
During the hearing, Judge Alsup emphasized that Congress has granted agencies the authority to manage their own personnel decisions. He stated, “The Department of Defense, for example, has statutory authority to hire and fire,” highlighting that OPM lacks the legal power to enforce such firings across other agencies. “They can hire and fire their own employees,” he added.
A coalition of union plaintiffs, led by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), argued that OPM violated the law when it ordered government agencies in February to terminate all probationary employees, defined as those within their first or second year of employment. Currently, approximately 200,000 such workers comprise about 10 percent of the civilian federal workforce.
The unions reported that tens of thousands of probationary employees had already been dismissed, often receiving template emails from OPM that falsely cited performance issues as the reason for their terminations. The unions asserted that many of these employees had received positive performance reviews and that their dismissals lacked proper supervision and justification from their respective agencies.
Key personnel affected by these cuts include essential workers engaged in forest-fire prevention efforts in California, as well as Federal Aviation Administration employees stationed at airports nationwide, and staff providing crucial support services to veterans and researchers at the National Science Foundation.
In response to the lawsuit, the Justice Department and acting OPM director, Charles Ezell, argued that the unions lacked the legal standing to contest the firings and suggested they take their grievances to the Federal Labor Relations Authority or the Merit Systems Protection Board. The latter board recently halted the termination of six probationary employees, which may have broader implications for the thousands of others who were dismissed.
Ezell contended that the president possesses “inherent constitutional authority” to manage the Executive Branch, which includes decisions regarding hiring and termination. However, Judge Alsup expressed skepticism regarding this argument, questioning how such widespread layoffs could occur so abruptly without clear justification from individual agencies.
Trump administration lawyers insisted that OPM did not mandate specific employee terminations but rather initiated a “focused review” process. However, testimonies from multiple agency officials, including those from the Defense and Agriculture Departments, indicated that OPM had indeed directed them to terminate probationary employees.
The unions pointed out that before OPM’s order, no federal agency had announced any terminations of probationary employees. They also criticized OPM for restricting agencies to a 200-character limit when providing explanations for retaining employees, severely limiting their ability to justify keeping qualified staff.
In a related case, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., recently denied a request for a temporary restraining order filed by government worker unions, citing a lack of jurisdiction and directing the unions to pursue their claims through the Federal Labor Relations Authority. This authority is currently operating with a limited panel, consisting of one Republican and one Democratic appointee, following the dismissal of its chairwoman by Trump before her term ended in July.
The recent ruling by Judge Alsup not only halts the mass firings but also raises significant questions about the legality of OPM's directives and the broader implications for labor relations within the federal workforce.
