Judge Calls Doge Firings A "Sham", Orders Thousands Of Workers To Be Reinstated Immediately

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

A federal judge has dealt a blow to Elon Musk's DOGE agenda. On Thursday, Judge William Alsup of San Francisco said that the firing of tens of thousands of federal probationary workers had been based on a lie" and that the government had conducted the expulsions illegally-further calling the initiative a sham." Alsup ordered that the workers be reinstated immediately.

Probationary workers-that is, workers who are new to the workforce and haven't received more advanced benefits and protections-have suffered massive cuts across the government, as DOGE and the Trump administration have attempted to greatly reduce the federal workforce. The case before Alsup concerns litigation brought by union groups representing those workers.

Alsup's reinstatement order applies to thousands of federal workers fired from the Defense Department, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, the Treasury Department, and the Department of the Interior. Government Executive reports that some 24,000 employees would regain their jobs as a result of the judge's decision.

The government's firing of the employees was illegitimate because the agencies impacted by the cuts were directed by the Office of Personnel Management to do so, Alsup said. The OPM does not have the authority to make such orders, as those orders could only be made by the agencies themselves, the judge concluded.

Many of the cuts in question took place not long after Musk's DOGE initiative was announced and a team of Musk-linked workers took over the OPM. That team is said to have included numerous current and former employees of Musk, including Amanda Scales, a former Musk employee who was appointed chief of staff at the agency. On January 31, Reuters reported that Musk aides had locked career civil servants out of the computer systems at the agency and were engaged in some sort of undisclosed work involving said systems. Democratic lawmakers subsequently accused Musk of leading a hostile takover" of the agency.

On February 14, Reuters reported that, as part of the government downsizing initiative being led by Musk, the Trump administration had begun to fire scores" of government employees, a majority of which were still on probation. A statement from the OPM at the time said that the Trump administration was encouraging agencies to use the probationary period as it was intended: as a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment."

Charles Ezell, the acting director of the OPM, met with the heads of numerous federal agencies on February 13 and ordered them to fire tens of thousands of employees, according to the unions representing the workers. The government has claimed that Ezell was not issuing orders and was merely providing guidance." However, Alsup recently determined that the OPM had, indeed, ordered the firings, and done so illegally.

The court finds that Office of Personnel Management did direct all agencies to terminate probationary employees with the exception of mission critical employees," Alsup recently said.

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