Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Firing Federal Employees On Probation In 19 States

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A federal judge on April 1 indefinitely blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from quickly firing thousands of probationary federal workers in 19 states and Washington, narrowing a nationwide order issued last month.

U.S. District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore, Maryland, had already ruled on March 13 that the administration should have provided advance notice when it terminated at least 11,000 workers without notifying states and local governments in advance.

The judge had ordered the administration to reinstate the fired workers at 18 agencies by March 17.

Bredar’s latest decision replaces that order but also covers two additional agencies: the Defense Department and the Office of Personnel Management.

In handing down his decision, the judge said that the federal government may “terminate probationary employees en masse (i.e., dismiss them via a reduction in force, or ‘RIF’)” but that when it does, it “must follow certain laws and regulations.”

“Recently, government agencies executed a series of mass terminations, but when they did so, on the record before the Court, they failed to follow mandatory RIF procedures,” the judge wrote.

Bredar found the Trump administration “probably broke the laws that regulate en masse terminations of government employees, and this to the continuing and irreparable harm of the Plaintiff States.”

He noted, however, that his order only applies to employees who either live or work in the mostly Democratic-led states that, along with Washington, D.C., sued over the mass firings.

“Perhaps a broader injunction would be in order if this action were on behalf of the thousands of employees who were laid off, the circumstances of each likely being similar if not identical to those of the others, and there being little doubt that the harms visited on some were representative of those experienced by all, or almost all. But this is not that case,” Bredar wrote.

“Only states have sued here, and only to vindicate their interests as states. They are not proxies for the workers.”

Agencies Covered by Court Ruling

The judge noted that while “each state is entitled to decide for itself whether it will seek relief in the present circumstances,” it would “be inappropriate for the Court to fashion relief having the consequence that decisions properly reserved to the non-party states are effectively, and unnecessarily overruled by this Court.”

Bredar’s ruling covers workers at the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

Additionally, terminated probationary workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, General Services Administration, Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Agency for International Development are covered by the orders, along with those from the Defense Department and the Office of Personnel Management.

The employees covered by the order must work in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, or Washington, D.C.

Bredar’s ruling is in response to a March 6 lawsuit filed by a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states who sued nearly two dozen federal agencies over the probationary worker firings.

In their lawsuit, the states, led by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, argued the move was illegal because the agencies had failed to comply with legal requirements for RIFs, including providing 60 days of advance notice to workers and states.

The Trump administration has appealed Bredar’s earlier decision, claiming the firings were lawful and that the judge lacked the power to require workers to be reinstated.

A U.S. appeals court panel earlier in March declined to put Bredar’s ruling on hold.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House and the Maryland Attorney General’s Office for comment.

Zachary Stieber and Reuters contributed to this report.