DeKalb GA News

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump Administration's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) acted unlawfully when it terminated thousands of probationary employees. U.S. District Judge William Alsup, appointed by President Clinton, criticized the administration for allegedly using "false claims of poor performance" to justify these dismissals.

Politico’s legal correspondent Josh Gerstein reported on the judge's remarks, emphasizing that Alsup did not reverse or halt any firings, as some reports have suggested. Instead, he rebuked the government for what he termed as "lies."

The OPM had ordered various federal agencies to terminate a significant number of probationary employees across multiple departments, including Energy, Veterans Affairs, Education, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Small Business Administration. The exact number of affected workers remains unclear but could potentially exceed 200,000 across different government sectors.

Judge Alsup's ruling does not provide immediate relief to those who lost their jobs since he stated he lacks the authority to reinstate them. However, he directed OPM to withdraw any directives related to mass terminations and instructed several agencies that OPM cannot enforce such widespread firings.

The decision marks a setback for the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce significantly but offers no immediate remedy for affected employees.

According to reports from CNN and Politico, termination notices were delivered through emails, form letters, video calls, and in some cases via Microsoft Teams meetings at OPM. Specific departments experienced substantial layoffs: between 1,200 and 2,000 at Energy; nearly 1,300 at CDC; approximately 3,400 at U.S. Forest Service; and over 1,000 at Veterans Affairs.

The judge’s order requires OPM to inform other agencies that it lacks authority over employment decisions within their respective bureaucracies.