Today, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, presided over by Judge William H. Alsup, granted a Preliminary Injunction broadening a temporary restraining order against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its Acting Director, Charles Ezell, finding the termination of probationary federal employees illegal because OPM had no authority to order it.
The judge ordered immediate reinstatement of terminated probationary employees of the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Defense, and Treasury departments, and these agencies must cease termination of probationary employees, effective immediately.
Alsup’s order came as part of a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions and organizations challenging the dismissals. It applies to employees dismissed at the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior and Treasury on or about Feb. 13 and 14. That amounts to around 24,000 employees according to estimates from the Government Executive.
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And in a related vein:
America's largest federal employees’ union filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Homeland Security Department and its leadership to stop the Trump administration from canceling a collective bargaining agreement for Transportation Security Administration workers.
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