Judge rules Trump’s mass terminations broke the law and risked public safety

In a sharply worded decision issued late Friday, a federal district judge ruled that the Trump administration broke the law by firing federal workers employed in vital roles protecting public safety and supporting the U.S. economy.

Judge William H. Alsup of the Northern District of California in AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM - in which Washington state is a co-plaintiff represented by the Attorney General's Office - found that the Trump administration's mass terminations of probationary federal employees were conducted indiscriminately with no regard for employees' job performance or public safety.

Among other relief, Alsup's ruling:

• Grants declaratory judgment that the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) lacked authority to direct other federal agencies to terminate probationary employees and violated the Administrative Procedure Act;
• Permanently enjoins OPM from directing any federal agency to terminate employees, and enjoins the agencies named as defendants from following any such OPM order or using the OPM template termination letter;
• Requires named agencies to update each terminated probationary employee's personnel file to reflect their termination was not performance- or conduct-based, and requires each named agency to issue an individually addressed corrective notice to each terminated employee stating that they were not terminated for performance;
• Requires an agency's chief human capital officer to submit a sworn declaration to the court if any employee was actually terminated for performance reasons, providing the individualized reasoning and documentation supporting the termination;
• Prohibits agencies from making termination dates retroactive for employees who were terminated, rehired as a result of the court's orders, then fired again when the Supreme Court stayed those orders.

Alsup's decision condemned the administration for presenting "sham" evidence and "fabricated context." He also cites agency officials who warned that employees being fired for no good reason were "critical to public safety." It has already been widely reported that many fired employees received the highest performance ratings possible.

Judge Alsup stated that ordinarily after finding that the government violated the APA, the court would set aside the unlawful directive and unwind its consequences, including returning fired probationary employees to their posts. But, he explained, "the Supreme Court has made clear enough by way of its emergency docket that it will overrule judicially granted relief respecting hirings and firings within the executive, not just in this case but in others."

The impact of the firings was wide-ranging, affecting key agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides care and services to U.S. veterans, and the United States Department of Agriculture. The ruling also applies to the departments of Commerce (including NOAA), Defense, Education, Energy, HHS, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Interior, Labor, Treasury, Transportation, EPA, General Services, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration.

Other plaintiffs in this case include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); the Main Street Alliance; the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks; the Common Defense Civic Engagement; the Western Watersheds Project; AFGE Local 1216; AFGE Local 2110; VoteVets; and United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP); American Public Health Association; American Geophysical Union (AGU); the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO; Climate Resilient Communities; and Point Blue Conservation Science. The plaintiffs are represented by the law firm of Altshuler Berzon LLP and the Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF).

Click here to read copy of the summary judgment.

Click here to read more about the impacts of these illegal firings in Washington state.

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