The Trump administration is actively working to reinstate nearly 25,000 federal workers who were unlawfully terminated, according to recent court documents. These terminations were ruled illegal by federal judges, prompting officials across 18 departments and agencies to submit plans to a federal court detailing their compliance with the court orders to rehire the laid-off probationary employees.
Last week, two federal judges, Judge James Bredar from Maryland and Judge William Alsup from California, issued rulings indicating that the mass dismissals of recently hired federal workers were illegal. These rulings mandated the reinstatement of these employees pending further litigation. The firings were part of a broader initiative by the Trump administration to reduce the size of the federal workforce, which included the involvement of billionaire Elon Musk and his controversial Department of Government Efficiency, known as Doge.
Documents filed in a Baltimore federal court reveal the extensive nature of these layoffs across various federal agencies. Notably, the filings indicate that approximately 7,600 individuals were laid off from the Treasury Department, 5,700 from the Department of Agriculture, and over 3,200 from the Department of Health and Human Services. Additional layoffs occurred across other departments and agencies, totaling nearly 25,000 affected employees.
Many of the reinstated workers will not immediately return to their roles; instead, they will be placed on administrative leave. This approach has drawn criticism from the judges involved in the case. Judge Alsup specifically expressed concerns that placing rehired workers on administrative leave would not adequately restore the services that the preliminary injunction aimed to protect.
The legal proceedings began after a lawsuit was filed by 19 Democratic-led states and Washington D.C., which argued that the mass layoffs could lead to increased unemployment claims and additional pressure on social services. In response to the government's attempts to reinstate the workers, Judge Bredar acknowledged that progress had been made towards compliance with the court's orders.
The Justice Department has since appealed both federal court decisions, maintaining that placing workers on administrative leave is a necessary first step towards full reinstatement. Moreover, the legal challenges against the Trump administration's workforce reduction measures do not end here. On Tuesday, a federal judge also blocked further attempts by the Trump administration to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), signaling ongoing scrutiny and pushback against efforts to diminish federal resources.
As this situation continues to unfold, the implications of these legal battles will be closely monitored, particularly regarding their impact on the federal workforce and the services that rely on these essential employees.
