U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston has extended her order stopping the Trump administration from firing federal workers because of the government shutdown.
On Oct. 28, Judge Illston indefinitely extended her temporary restraining order against the Trump administration from enforcing any reduction-in-force (RIF) notices sent to federal employees. Her order prevents the administration from implementing any RIFs until the funding deadlock in Washington is resolved.
During the government shutdown, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, openly discussed plans to dismiss more than 4,000 federal employees. Before Judge Illston’s injunction, thousands of RIF notices had already been sent out, and Vought suggested that over 10,000 would eventually be sent. President Trump has called these widespread layoffs a way to target “Democrat programs,” which he claims only benefit Democratic Party voters.
But on Sept. 30, unions the American Federation of Government Employees and AFSCME filed a lawsuit to stop the firings.
Judge Illston ruled in favor of the unions and stopped the firings. She later broadened her order to cover the 110,000 federal workers who are members of the National Federation of Federal Employees, as well as members of the National Association of Government Employees and the Service Employees International Union.
Democratic Rep. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, the ranking member of the House Committee on the Budget, condemned the attempted firings as illegal.
“No statutory authority exists that allows or requires the president to conduct mass firings during a government shutdown,” Boyle said in a statement. “Contrary to existing law, OMB falsely claimed that programs whose funding has lapsed are no longer statutorily required to be carried out. However, a temporary lapse in appropriations does not repeal an agency’s statutory duties or obligations. The president does not have the authority to unilaterally end programs that he disagrees with. That power — the power of the purse — lies with Congress.”
In a recent open letter to Congress, AFGE President Everett B. Kelley emphasized the extreme financial hardship his members are now facing and urged politicians to end the spending standoff. Though the firings are halted, the shutdown continues to harm federal workers and their families, he said.
“Were any other employer in the United States to treat its workforce in the same way, there would be a bipartisan outcry and demands that the offending employer reverse course,” Kelley wrote. He emphasized the urgent need for action, adding, “With less than a month before Thanksgiving, no federal worker should have to turn to a food pantry to help prepare the family table.”