WASHINGTON—A federal judge on Thursday ordered federal agencies to rehire tens of thousands of probationary employees who were fired through the Trump Administration’s efforts to drastically reduce the government’s workforce, Politico reported.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup condemned the mass firings as a "sham" tactic by the government's central human resources office to bypass legal requirements for downsizing the federal workforce, Politico said.
Alsup ordered the Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs departments to “immediately” offer all fired probationary employees their jobs back. The Office of Personnel Management, the judge said, had made an “unlawful” decision to terminate them, Politico said.
The order represents one of the most sweeping rejections of the Trump administration’s attempt to reduce the federal bureaucracy and is highly likely to be appealed, Politico said.
Alsup also criticized the Justice Department’s handling of the case, stating his belief that Trump administration lawyers concealed the truth about who ordered the mass firings., Politico said.
“You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross examination would reveal the truth,” the judge said to a DOJ attorney during a hearing Thursday. “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.”
Alsup also stated that the administration sought to evade federal laws on workforce reductions by falsely labeling the firings as “performance-based.” He condemned the tactic as “a gimmick,” Politico said.