A federal court has ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it ordered the dismissal of tens of thousands of federal employees, but the judge declined to mandate their return to government service, citing limitations imposed by recent Supreme Court rulings.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup, sitting in San Francisco, reaffirmed his earlier position that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had exceeded its authority when, in February, it instructed multiple federal agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees. These workers, typically in their first year of federal service, numbered roughly 25,000 across various departments. The directive affected not only newer hires but also longtime employees who had recently transitioned into different federal roles.
The move prompted legal challenges from unions, advocacy groups, and the state of Washington, which argued that the administration had stripped workers of due process protections while disguising the dismissals as performance-related. Judge Alsup agreed, noting that under ordinary circumstances, he would nullify OPM’s directive and restore the employees to their former positions.
“Ordinarily, I would set aside OPM’s unlawful directive and unwind its consequences, returning the parties to the ex ante status quo, and as a consequence, probationers to their posts,” Alsup wrote.
However, the judge emphasized that the Supreme Court has signaled a strong reluctance to permit lower courts to interfere in personnel decisions made by the executive branch. He referenced the high court’s emergency rulings, which have curtailed judicial remedies in cases involving federal hiring and firing.
In April, the Supreme Court halted an earlier injunction Alsup had issued that temporarily reinstated 17,000 workers while the case was pending. By now, Alsup observed, the landscape has shifted significantly, with many displaced employees having secured other employment and the administration having restructured agencies to adapt to the mass dismissals. For this reason, he declined to order reinstatement.
Still, the judge acknowledged the damage inflicted by what he described as OPM’s “pretextual termination ‘for performance.’” He directed 19 federal agencies — including the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior, and Treasury — to correct the employment records of the affected workers by November 14. The ruling prevents agencies from continuing to rely on OPM’s directives as grounds for dismissals and requires them to acknowledge that the original justification for the firings was invalid.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, praised the ruling, stating:
“Judge Alsup’s ruling makes clear that thousands of probationary workers were wrongfully fired, exposes the sham record the government relied upon, and requires the government to tell the wrongly terminated employees that OPM’s reasoning for firing them was false.”
The decision marks a partial victory for labor unions and workers’ rights advocates, though the absence of reinstatement leaves many of the affected employees without their former jobs. Critics of the Trump administration’s actions say the case underscores a broader pattern of hostility toward the federal workforce, while supporters of the policy argued that mass dismissals were intended to streamline government operations.
The White House has not issued a statement on the ruling, and representatives of the Justice Department declined to comment on whether they would pursue further appeals. For now, the case highlights the tension between executive authority, judicial oversight, and the protections afforded to federal employees under U.S. law.
