District Judge Alsup: reinstate thousands of discharged federal workers

Judge Alsup  denies motion for stay pending appeal. 

 California has ordered the reinstatement of thousands of federal workers affected by Elon Musk and Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the size of goverment. ' 

The Civil Service awards a Veteran's preference to applicants.  A very large percentage of government employeess are veterans.  Query if such losses will undercut the support of Trump who, despite his contemptuous attitude, has retianed the support of police and veterans groups.

- GWC

Executive Action: Termination of probationary employees
American Federation Of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. Office of Personnel Management and Ezell (N.D. Cal.) Case No. 3:25-cv-01780	Complaint (Feb. 19, 2025); Amended Complaint (Feb. 23, 2025)	2025-02-19	Overview: A group of labor and nonprofit organizations are challenging the Office of Personnel Management’s (“OPM”) order to terminate federal employees en masse. The organizations argue that the terminations have falsely cited performance reasons and violate the Constitution and federal law. The organizations also argue that the OPM has violated federal law by sending emails to employees requesting weekly updates on their work; Elon Musk further stated that failure to comply would be considered a resignation. The organizations have asked the court to declare the mass termination unlawful, void the mass termination order, and rescind unlawful terminations made so far. Case Summary: On Feb. 13, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management and Acting Director Charles Ezell ordered federal agencies to terminate tens of thousands of probationary employees en masse. Probationary employees are members of the competitive service in their first year of employment or of the excepted service in their first two years of employment, and may also include long-time federal workers who have recently been employed in a new position or a new agency. Among the factual claims, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants sent agencies “standardized notices of termination, drafted by OPM, that falsely state that the terminations are for performance reasons.” Plaintiffs allege that the mass termination violates multiple requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act and separation of powers principles by overriding Congressional statutes authorizing and regulating agency hiring and firing. They seek a declaration that the mass termination is unlawful and a preliminary or permanent injunction setting aside OPM’s order, ceasing terminations pursuant to the order, and rescinding any prior unlawful terminations. Update 1: On Feb. 23, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint alleging that OPM further violated the APA by sending emails to government employees requesting updates on their week-to-week accomplishments and Musk’s stating that “[f]ailure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” Update 2: On Feb. 27, Judge William Alsup reportedly ruled from the bench that OPM had no legal authority to issue directives for other agencies to fire probationary employees. Alsup noted that, due to jurisdictional issues, his order applies only to employees at six agencies (the National Park Service, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration, Bureau of Land Management, and Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Defense), and that he could not directly order agencies to cease the firings. As for other agencies not covered, Alsup said, “I am going to count on the government to do the right thing, and to go a little bit further than I have ordered, and to let some of these agencies know what I have ruled.” Update 3: On Feb. 28, Judge Alsup issued an Opinion and a written Order for a TRO. The Order states that OPM’s memos directing the termination of probationary workers were “unlawful, invalid, and must be stopped and rescinded,” and that OPM must provide written notice of the order to the six agencies.