U.S. District Judge William Alsup claims the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Charles Ezell, lack the authority to carry out the terminations.
Alsup ordered the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury to immediately offer job reinstatement to employees terminated on or about Feb. 13 and 14. He also directed the departments to report back within seven days with a list of probationary employees and an explanation of how the agencies complied with his order as to each person.
Lawyers for the government maintain the mass firings were lawful because individual agencies reviewed and determined whether employees on probation were fit for continued employment.
There are an estimated 200,000 probationary workers across federal agencies. They include entry level employees but also workers who recently received a promotion.
