A federal judge in California has ruled that thousands of fired ‘probationary’ employees must be reinstated, in the latest blow to President Trump’s DOGE efforts.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup, a Bill Clinton nominee, called the large scale firings across government a ‘sham’ in a fiery decision, days after ruling that a government directive for the firings was ‘unlawful.’
The ruling by the San Francisco based judge takes immediate effect, and applies to the Pentagon, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and the Treasury Department.
Trump, Elon Musk’s DOGE, and the Office of Personnel Management, have been targeting thousands of the provisional employees, who had been thought to be easier targets lacking some of the longer term worker protections.
Workers joining the government often work on a probationary basis for one or two years, although it can also apply to veteran employees who assume a new role within the government.
The Trump administration signalled its intention to appeal the ruling to a higher court.
The judge took the government to task for manufacturing a cause to fire probationary employees.
‘It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,’ he said.
‘It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements,’ he added from the bench.
The judge lambasted a Justice Department lawyer during a hearing, Politico reported.
‘I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth. … I’m tired of seeing you stonewall on trying to get at the truth,’ he said.
But the judge also indicated that the Trump Administration could find ways the cut through the workforce through a Reduction in Force.
Thursday was a deadline the administration set for agencies to present plans for their RIfs.
‘If it’s done right, there can be a reduction in force within an agency, that has to be true,’ the judge said.
Employee unions had challenged the firings.
‘OPM’s revision of its Jan. 20 memo is a clear admission that it unlawfully directed federal agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees,’ said the American Federation of Government Employees president Everett Kelley earlier this month.
That came after OPM revised its memo to state that it ‘is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees
‘Every agency should immediately rescind these unlawful terminations and reinstate everyone who was illegally fired,’ he said.
In Washington, Judge Tanya Chutkan has given DOGE three weeks to answer questions on its annexation efforts.
Still the public has been split on DOGE, with Musk’s group slightly under water with 48 percent approval and 52 percent disapproval, according to a poll for DailyMail by J.L. Partners.