US court orders Trump to reinstate fired government workers
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Federal judges in California and Maryland have ordered the administration of US President Donald Trump to reinstate thousands of federal employees. These civil servants had been on probation and lost their jobs as a result of massive layoffs in 19 agencies.
This was reported by Reuters on Friday, March 14.
Trump to reinstate thousands of fired government workers
The back-to-back rulings are the biggest blow yet to efforts by Trump and senior adviser Elon Musk to drastically reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy. US District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore agreed with 20 Democratic-led states that 18 agencies that massively fired probationary employees in recent weeks violated rules governing the firing of federal workers.
Bredesen's restraining order applies in particular to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Protection Bureau and the U.S. Agency for International Development, all three of which are in the Trump administration's crosshairs for deregulation and cost-cutting.
Other agencies affected by the judge's decision include the US Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs.
Although the administration claimed that it had fired each employee based on performance or other individual reasons, the judge said that this was not true, making the job cuts a form of mass layoffs that require advance notice to states that are obligated to provide assistance to their newly unemployed citizens.
"The sheer number of employees that were terminated in a matter of days belies any argument that these terminations were due to the employees' individual unsatisfactory performance or conduct," Bredar wrote.
His ruling came hours after US District Judge William Alsup ordered the reinstatement of probationary employees of six agencies, including the US Department of Defense, which weren't subject to the Maryland ruling.
"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," Alsup said.
Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, following Alsup's decision said that the administration would "fight back immediately".
As a reminder, US President Donald Trump recently said that he has leverage over Russian President Vladimir Putin. Also, Trump threatens EU with 200% tariff on alcohol.
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