Judge Refuses to Halt Large-Scale Termination of Provisional Employees
A federal judge has declined the appeal from federal labor unions to momentarily prevent the Trump administration's mass termination of provisional employees and deferred resignation offers, citing a probable lack of jurisdiction over the issue. Judge Christopher Cooper, who presided over the matter, indicated in his ruling that the Federal Labor Relations Authority should handle the case.
Judge Cooper stated that the unions should address their grievances according to the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, which initially demands administrative review by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, followed by a judicial review in the appeals courts.
This verdict is the outcome of a status hearing conducted on Tuesday where Judge Cooper questioned the plaintiffs, five federal unions including the National Treasury Employees Union, on their decision to approach the court rather than the Federal Labor Relations Authority. During the hearing, the union representing Treasury Department employees argued that due to the scale and urgency of the terminations, they decided to bring the case directly to the court.
However, the judge countered: "NTEU claims that the relief it seeks would be harder to get if it first proceeds before the FLRA, not that it has a right to bypass the FLRA entirely." The court recognized that a district court review of such expansive executive actions might be more efficient, but the judge emphasized that NTEU had not provided a reason why it couldn't seek relief from the FLRA on behalf of a class of plaintiffs.
The lawsuit, submitted last week, is one among many challenging Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to drastically reduce the federal workforce. The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of violating Congress' power to establish a federal workforce and the federal procedures for workforce reduction by attempting to terminate a significant number of federal employees across various agencies.
The unions, which represent hundreds of thousands of employees across a multitude of federal agencies and departments, sought a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, arguing that the massive reduction of the federal workforce would lead to a significant loss of revenues for unions and their bargaining power.
The Department of Justice rebuffed these allegations, stating that an order blocking the changes would hinder the President's ability to manage and modernize the federal workforce in line with policy preferences and public needs.
The government also maintained that Trump's executive action to reduce the workforce is in accordance with the law and dismissed the unions' concerns about potential loss of revenues and bargaining power as "conjectural."
Since Trump resumed office, Elon Musk has been leading efforts to downsize the government, cut thousands of federal contracts, eliminate wasteful programs, and expose fraud. Following the discontinuation of its deferred resignation offer earlier this month due to legal challenges, the Trump administration has commenced layoffs, primarily targeting provisional employees who joined the federal workforce within the last one to two years and have fewer protections. This initial round of layoffs could impact over 200,000 workers who were recruited by the federal government within the last two years.