A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from carrying out mass layoffs during the ongoing government shutdown pending a resolution of a lawsuit filed by unions that want to challenge the “reductions in effect.” The judge wrote in her order that the unions are likely to succeed in their claims.
The order by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston in California grants the unions’ requests to block further layoffs related to the stoppage and pauses the clock on RIF notices that were already issued. The order is based on an interim measure the judge had previously issued to prevent layoffs of union government workers.
“If what the plaintiffs allege is true, the agencies’ actions in firing thousands of public employees, and targeting those of a particular political party, during a government shutdown are the epitome of rash, arbitrary and capricious decision-making,” Illston wrote.
Before the shutdown, which began Oct. 1, the White House Office of Management and Budget directed federal agencies to consider RIFs during an appropriations lapse.
However, the judge noted that President Donald Trump’s comments have repeatedly highlighted the layoffs as a means of punishing Democrats for the shutdown, such as when he posted on social media that he was “meeting with OMB Director Russell Vought to determine which of the many Democratic agencies, most of which are political scams, he is recommending be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.” “cutting Democratic priorities and never getting them back.”
Vought has said more than 10,000 government workers could be targeted by the RIFs.
The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees initially filed a lawsuit challenging the RIFs on Sept. 30, and six other unions representing government workers have since joined.
The Trump administration has argued that the president has the power to carry out layoffs and that the plaintiffs have not shown they face irreparable harm. But Illston wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their claim that the White House’s direction to consider the RIFs was not based on legal grounds.
In his order, Illston noted that RIFs have come out with errors, including incorrect service dates, benefit calculations and even the divisions where affected employees work. Although a RIF notice typically provides a 60-day period before termination, employees have not been able to use the time to meet with human resources or organize records because staff who would be assisting them have also received RIF notices. Some employees were not even aware they had received notices because they had been unable or unwilling to access work email during the shutdown.
“The record before the court paints a chaotic picture, with employees wondering what is going on and no one at the agencies able to guide them,” the judge wrote.
“This is not just a victory for the dedicated federal workforce that makes up our nonpartisan civil service, but a victory for the American people and the public services that our communities and our economy rely on,” said Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a union participating in the lawsuit.
Some employees received RIF notices earlier this year and were laid off, but were later reinstated and have received another RIF notice during the shutdown.
“In all this time, including during my combat deployment, I’ve never been through anything as traumatic as what I’m going through now,” a US Air Force veteran who worked for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development told the court.
