Judge Rule on Thursday The Trump administration’s instructions to fire tens of thousands of workers from the entire federal government may be illegal. But it is unclear what this means for the current employee and those who have been terminated under the directive.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued an order earlier this month, amid efforts by Elon Musk and his Ministry of Efficiency to cut government spending. It targets “probation” workers in current positions for less than two years, including those who have been in the government for a long time and have been promoted recently.
A group of unions quickly Challenged the command In federal court, OPM lacked the power to order mass shootings, and the agency miscited the issue of employee performance. exist Remarks on the bench On Thursday, the judge in the case ordered OPM to revoke its order and temporarily blocked the termination of civilian employees from the Department of Defense.
“Congress has granted itself the power to hire and fire from institutions themselves,” said U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup.
“Under the Any Regulations in the History of the Universe, the Office of Personnel Management has no authority to hire and fire employees at another agency. They can hire and fire their own employees,” he added.
However, this does not necessarily mean that federal workers’ jobs are safe, or that termination employees will be able to return to their old positions. It may depend on what happens next in the court.
Lee Saunders, president of the National Federation, County and Municipal Employees at statement.
What’s next for federal workers?
Alsup will consider whether to prevent further termination of the Trump administration at the March 13 hearing. But even if he does, the Trump administration may not easily give up on the goal of cutting federal labor At least up to 10%.
“The Trump administration will argue that the federal court has no authority to tell us who we must hire,” said Cary Coglianese, an administrative law professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School.
At most, any such court intervention may only temporarily delay the Trump administration’s plans. OPM may have to revoke its instructions to firefighters, but ALSUP acknowledges that many government agencies now led by Trump allies still have the right to do so on their own. The process may be slower than under outspoken instructions within the government.
The Coglia said that, like in his first term, Trump and his allies were trying to achieve a “fast and dirty approach” to achieve their policy goals, it is likely that after facing obstacles in court, it is “to go back to it again in a smarter, more deliberate way or more reasonable way based on the law.”
“It’s certainly not the last skirmish in a big fight,” he said.
