Judge slams US govt for lying, orders mass rehiring of staff • The Register
A federal judge has ordered six US government agencies to immediately rehire employees fired this year by the Trump administration.
Speaking in a court in San Francisco, Judge William Alsup on Thursday ordered the Departments of Defense, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior, and Treasury to bring back sacked staff, because the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had no right to order the firings and that the agencies broke employment law by falsely claiming that staff were let go for incompetence.
It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie
The court heard that the OPM – operating under the shadow of Elon Musk’s Trump-blessed cost-cutting DOGE unit – had provided the six agencies with a template letter that cited performance as the reason for dismissal. But many of the fired government workers had good performance ratings before being given the boot, in some cases excellent ones.
The OPM is supposed to be primarily an advisory and policy setting body, and hiring and firing is handled by federal organizations following the office’s advice – the OPM isn’t supposed to directly fire workers or order their dismissal. This is beside the issue of iffy performance-related terminations. (Don’t forget, most US government workers cannot be fired at will like the vast majority of us here in the American private sector; legit cause needs to be given.)
“The reason that OPM wanted to put this based on performance was at least in part, in my judgment, a gimmick … because the law always allows you to fire somebody for performance,” Judge Alsup said.
“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie. That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements,” the judge added.
Judge Alsup … Source: Mississippi State University handout (link).
Judge Alsup also ordered the acting head of OPM, Charles Ezell, to appear in court next week to explain himself. Ezell had been due to testify in the case but withdrew his original testimony and decided not to attend hearings. Alsup wasn’t having that.
“The government, I believe, has tried to frustrate the judge’s ability to get at the truth of what happened here, and then set forth sham declarations,” he said. “That’s not the way it works in the US district court.”
Alsup said that there was nothing wrong with the government firing staff – if it’s done in accordance with existing employment laws. Poor performance is a perfectly acceptable reason for dismissal. Claiming someone is under-performing as a pretext to get rid of them for other reasons is a clear violation of statute, he said.
The White House has criticized the decision.
“A single judge is attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the Executive Branch,” a spokesperson for the administration said.
“The President has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch – singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the President’s agenda. If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for President themselves. The Trump administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order.”
Performance and probation
The case, brought by a coalition of public sector unions and other interest groups, hinged on the methods used to fire about 30,000 government workers.
One of the plaintiffs, the American Federation of Government Employees (AGFE), welcomed the decision.
“AFGE is pleased with Judge Alsup’s order to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of probationary federal employees who were illegally fired from their jobs by an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public,” wrote Everett Kelley, the org’s national president.
“We are grateful for these employees and the critical work they do, and AFGE will keep fighting until all federal employees who were unjustly and illegally fired are given their jobs back.”
This ruling is the second time Judge Alsup has stymied the Trump administration’s plan to downsize the federal workforce. Earlier this month he ordered the National Science Foundation to rehire almost all of the probationary staffers it had fired.
Alsup has yet to issue a written order in the matter he decided on Thursday. However, he said that a verbal ruling was enough to force the agencies to start rehiring staff.
The Register contacted all six government agencies and the Department of Justice for comment. Defense, Veterans’ Affairs, and the Department of the Interior all said that they don’t comment on pending litigation. The other three did not respond. Maybe they need more staff? ®
