Decision in California protects thousands of federal employees from cuts promoted by cost reduction policy
A federal judge in California issued a temporary order on Thursday (27.FEV.2025), prohibiting US OPM (Person of Personnel) from continuing the mass layoffs of probationary federal workers. The measure, promoted by the Trump administration, was challenged by unions and organizations. Judge William Alsup of the US District stated that the OPM had no legal authority to order layoffs in various federal agencies, including the Department of Defense.
The legal action was started by. It argues that the OPM violated the law by demanding in mid -February that government agencies would dismiss all employees in probationary stage. This affected those in the early or second years of work and longtime workers who had assumed new positions. Alsup has decided that the authority to hire and dismiss employees resides in the agencies themselves.
The decision represents a setback for Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce. The US employs about 200,000 probationary workers, which represents approximately 10% of its Federal Civil Labor. According to unions, tens of thousands of these workers had already been dismissed, often through standard OPM emails that quoted performance reasons for terminations.
The temporary restriction imposed by alsup will be reviewed in the coming weeks. It directly affects employees in vital areas, such as Forest Fire Prevention in California, Federal Aviation Administration workers at Airports and Researchers at the National Science Foundation.
The Justice Department and the interim director of the OPM, Charles Ezell, argued against the legitimacy of the unions to contest the layoffs in court. They suggested that the claims should be taken to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, a presidential nominee panel, or the Merit Systems Protection Board.
