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A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday discovered that mass shootings on probation workers were likely illegal, and pleaded to give temporary relief to a coalition of unions and organizations and to stop the massive integration of the Trump administration’s federal workforce.
The ruling places one of the most comprehensive pauses ever on President Donald Trump’s attempt to carry out a massive shooting across federal agencies.
The case specifically addressed involvement and oversight of the Human Resources Administration, led by acting director Charles Ezell, instructing the agency to cut the workforce starting with shorter or probation employees.
During a hearing Thursday afternoon, US District Judge William Alsup ordered the Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that they have no authority to order probation employees, including the Department of Defense.
The order could have immediate impact on holding mass shootings on federal probation workers.
“The OPM has absolutely no authority under any law in the history of the universe,” says Alsup.
Alsup passed the order in a temporary restraining order sought by trade unions and nonprofits in a lawsuit filed by the coalition filed last week. He had asked more clearly within the scope of OPM’s involvement before the hearing when directing OPM to cut staff.
A statement of oath from Ezell, filed in court, said the judge had not implemented a “mass termination program” and “did not direct the agency to terminate probation employees based on performance or misconduct.” Ezell said individual agencies are “responsible” for taking their actions to cut jobs and consider the performance of workers.
But Ezel said he “issued guidance” to federal agencies on Trump’s first day, according to court filings, and once again said probation employees should “control staffing levels” this month.
Thousands of probation employees have lost jobs from several agencies, including the IRS, and the Trump administration has pledged to fire thousands more. Probationary workers have less protection from dismissal than those who served longer in the position.
The complaint, filed by five unions and five nonprofits, is one of multiple lawsuits that push back the administration’s efforts to significantly reduce the federal workforce that President Donald Trump called bloated and sloppy.
The plaintiffs say the OPM does not have the authority to terminate the work of probation workers, who generally have work for less than a year. They also say that the termination is based on lies of poor performance by workers.
Government lawyers say the OPM did not direct its dismissal, but asked the agency to confirm and decide whether employees on probation are suitable for ongoing employment. They also say that probation employees are not guaranteed employment and only top performance and mission-critical employees should be hired.
There is an estimated 200,000 probation workers (typically less than a year) across federal agencies. Around 15,000 people are employed in California, providing services ranging from fire prevention to veteran care, the complaint says.
The plaintiffs celebrated the order on Thursday, noting that it was just the first step in the legal battle over mass shootings.
“This ruling by Judge Alsup was an important early victory for the patriotic Americans in the country, and was illegally fired from work by an agency that has no authority to do so.” “The direction of OPM on agencies engaged in indiscriminate dismissal of federal probation employees is illegal, simple and simple, and our union will continue to fight these morale-low and damaging attacks until they halt at once at a time.”
The union recently attacked two other federal judges in a similar lawsuit attempting to stop the Trump administration’s goal of significantly reducing federal workers.
The incident from San Francisco has so far been different as Ezel clearly focuses on OPM’s alleged direct involvement in federal workforce reductions. In other cases, the judge initially found that other roads outside federal courts could be available to fired workers and therefore may not have the authority to intervene.
But MSPB, one of the places where federal workers were fired, has ordered a temporary recovery for six probation workers who have lost their jobs under Trump’s cuts.
A decision earlier this week showed that these dismissals are likely to be illegal. The attorneys representing the interests of workers have vowed to expand the board’s findings to apply to more probation workers.
Alsup said Thursday that the Trump administration should take over evidence related to next week’s case, with a fast lawsuit scheduled for a hearing in mid-March.
Arrisp, appointed by Democrat Bill Clinton, hosts many well-known cases and is known for his dull stories. He oversees Pacific Gas & Electric’s criminal probation and calls the nation’s largest utility “a continuing threat to California.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
