A federal judge in California granted a temporary restraining order halting the Trump administration from laying off federal workers during the government shutdown, NBC News reported Oct. 15.
The lawsuit was filed by two unions representing government employees on Sept. 30, ahead of the Oct. 1 shutdown. The American Federation of Government Employees and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees argued in their lawsuit that the Office of Budget and Management, through its director, Russ Vought, violated the law by threatening to engage in the mass firing of federal workers during a shutdown.
The lawsuit was filed after the circulation of a Sept. 23 memo from the Office of Management and Budget instructed federal agencies to update their “lapse plans” and prepare for possible workforce cuts and furloughs if funding expired.
The Trump administration began laying off workers, including HHS employees deemed “non-essential,” on Oct. 10. On that same day, the unions filed a supplemental motion for immediate relief.
The Office of Budget and Management said in a motion in response to the unions’ Oct. 10 filing that it issued reduction in force notices to between 1,100 and 1,200 HHS employees. The department employs more than 79,000 workers and 32,000 were furloughed on Oct. 1.
Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston said she believes the unions can demonstrate that the administration’s actions were illegal, in excess of authority and “arbitrary and capricious,” according to the report. Her order is effective immediately.
“Federal workers have already faced enough uncertainty from the administration’s relentless attacks on the important jobs they do to keep us safe and healthy,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in an Oct. 15 news release. “They deserve respect for the work they do – not to be treated as political pawns by the billionaires running this administration who see workers as expendable.”
The Office of Budget and Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
