Judge further protects most fired probationary feds, though some may be newly vulnerable

A federal judge on Tuesday indefinitely extended his order blocking the Trump administration from firing employees in their probationary periods at a slew of agencies, though his ruling narrowed those protected to only feds living or working in 19 states and Washington, D.C. 

Twenty agencies essentially conducted a large-scale reduction in force of their newly hired, or in some cases, newly promoted, employees without following the proper procedures to do so, Judge James Bredar of the U.S. District Court for Maryland said, thereby making their firings unlawful. Bredar had reversed those firings and ordered reinstatements of the roughly 25,000 employees the agencies had fired, but did so on a nationwide basis. In his new ruling, he limited the effect to those who live or work in the states that brought the case. 

Relatively few employees will be newly eligible for firings as a result of the new preliminary injunction, however. Another judge in California has maintained a nationwide injunction in a separate case on the same matter, which impacts six large agencies: the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior and Treasury. Those agencies employ more than 70% of the fired probationary workers in the Maryland case, and their reinstatements still hold. 

For the remaining 30%, only those who do not live or work in Maryland, California, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin or D.C. may be at risk of renewed firings. 

In addition to the six agencies in the California case, Bredar’s ruling affects probationary workers at the departments of Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor and Transportation, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, General Service Administration, Small Business Administration and U.S. Agency for International Development.

The initial injunction issued by the judge in the California case, William Alsup, remains in effect while it is pending before the Supreme Court. The Trump administration is asking the high court to stay Alsup’s ruling after its challenge to an appellate court asking for an immediate reversal was denied. Justice Elena Kagan has asked the plaintiffs in the case to respond to the administration’s appeal request by Thursday. 

The Trump administration separately asked the U.S. Appeals Court for the Fourth Circuit to stay Bredar’s temporary restraining order, which the court denied. Now that Bredar has issued a preliminary injunction, the administration is likely to once again file an appeal. 

Justice Department attorneys had asked Bredar to narrow his ruling further to only those who work in the plaintiff states. The judge ultimately sided with the plaintiffs, who asked the judge to apply the ruling—if he narrowed it all—to anyone who either lives or works in those states. 

While most of the probationary employees’ jobs have been spared for now, agencies are in the midst of conducting widespread reductions in force. Bredar’s ruling allows for the employees to be laid off so long as the agencies follow proper procedures. 

HHS began issuing RIF notices to 10,000 employees on Tuesday, while Education, GSA and USAID have laid off thousands of workers. Most agencies are expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.