Court Decision Alleges Unlawful Terminations by State Department, Commencing June 13th According to Judge

In a significant development, a district judge in California, Susan Illston, has extended an injunction indefinitely, barring most major federal agencies from issuing mass layoffs. This decision comes as a response to a lawsuit filed by a consortium of federal employee unions, municipalities, and advocacy groups.

The judge's order has had immediate effects on several departments. At the Health and Human Services Department, employees in the Administration for Community Living who had received RIF notices were given offboarding papers after Illston's order went into effect, but have since been informed that offboarding is on hold. Similarly, the National Institutes of Health moved some employees to administrative leave, but has since reversed those changes.

The State Department is another department facing significant changes. The department is moving forward with planned cuts, which could lead to thousands of job losses. The State Department is expected to shed more than 3,400 employees, with both reductions in force and voluntary separations being used to meet this total. Layoff notices for State Department employees could be issued as soon as next week, but actual separations would not occur until mid-August for civil servants and mid-October for foreign service officers.

However, the Trump administration argues that the State Department's reorganization is permissible under the current preliminary injunction. The administration's lawyers have claimed that the State Department's actions are consistent with the Workforce Optimization Initiative, but not taken because of it. The State Department's reorganization plan was mentioned in a fact sheet disseminated in April, stating that department officials would "submit a path to reducing staff in domestic offices by 15%."

The judge, however, has ordered the Trump administration to submit evidence that the State Department's reorganization is separate from Trump's demands and OMB and OPM's guidance by Monday. Plaintiffs will have an opportunity to respond, and a hearing will be held on June 12 or June 13 to determine the matter.

Meanwhile, the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) has re-fired some of its probationary employees since Illston first paused agency restructurings, but Bernie, the HUD spokesperson, stated that those firings were not subject to the injunction. The judge will also determine whether the renewed dismissals of probationary employees at the HUD Department violated her order.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied the Trump administration's request to strike down Illston's injunction. Furthermore, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene, and the high court has requested initial filings by next week.

As for the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) in Germany, plans to issue dismissal certificates, possibly starting as early as next weekend, have been made. However, the impact of Illston's injunction on these plans remains unclear.

The judge has not made a final decision yet, but is leaning towards siding with the plaintiffs in the case. The indefinite pause on federal agency reorganizations and staffing cuts is a significant development and will likely have far-reaching implications for federal employees and the agencies themselves.

Court Decision Alleges Unlawful Terminations by State Department, Commencing June 13th According to Judge