A California federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ordering the Defense Department and other federal agencies to carry out mass layoffs of thousands of recently hired workers.
San Francisco District Judge William Alsup said during a hearing that the Office of Personnel Management does not have the authority to order federal agencies to fire employees, including those on probation, who typically have less than a year of work experience.
Republican President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who oversees the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, are leading an unprecedented effort to shrink the federal government, including job cuts.
Judge Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Human Resources for Federal Agencies, to rescind a January 20 directive and a February 14 email instructing agencies to identify probationary employees who are not "mission critical" and remove them from their jobs.
The judge said he could not order the Defense Department, which is expected to lay off 5,400 probationary employees on Friday, and other agencies not to fire employees because they are not defendants in the lawsuit filed by several unions and nonprofit groups.
But he suggested that the mass layoffs of federal employees that began two weeks ago would cause widespread harm, including cuts to national parks, scientific research and veterans' services.
"Probationers are the lifeblood of our government. They come in at a low level and they work their way up. That's how we reinvent ourselves," said Mr. Alsup, appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton.
The White House and the US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The plaintiffs include the largest federal employee union, four other unions as well as nonprofit organizations whose missions include protecting services for veterans and preserving national parks.
Union president Everett Kelley said in a statement that Judge Alsup's ruling was an important first victory for federal employees.
"These are high-ranking employees who joined the federal government to make a difference in their communities, but were suddenly fired because of this administration's contempt for federal employees and desire to privatize their work," he said. VOA (A2 Televizion)
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