Judge orders thousands of fired probationary federal employees reinstated

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of probationary employees who were fired last month from a half dozen federal agencies.

The order from U.S. District Judge William Alsup applies to the Veterans Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of the Treasury.

He also prohibited the Office of Personnel Management from issuing any guidance about whether employees can be terminated.

Alsup offered a scathing rebuke of the Trump administration's attempt to fire the employees, determining that the government used "lies" and "gimmicks" to unlawfully terminate workers.

Judge Alsup determined that the Trump administration attempted to circumvent the procedures in place for issuing reductions in force by incorrectly asserting that the employees were terminated for performance reasons.

"I just want to say it is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie," Judge Alsup said. "That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements."

If the Trump administration wants to reduce the size of the federal government, they need to follow the process established in federal law, he said.

"The words that I give you today should not be taken as some kind of wild and crazy judge in San Francisco has said that the administration cannot engage in a reduction in force," he said.

"The reason that OPM wanted to put this based on performance was, at least in my judgment, a gimmick to avoid their Reduction in Force Act because the law always allows you to fire somebody for performance," Judge Alsup said, adding that the employees terminated for "performance" can't even get unemployment insurance.

The government will have to issue status reports about the number of terminated employees and the status of their reinstatement.

"This order finds that all such terminations were directed by defendants - OPM and Acting Director Ezell - and were unlawful because OPM and Ezell had no authority to do so," he said.

Judge Alsup also ordered the immediate discovery and the deposition of OPM Senior Advisor Noah Peters.

"Narrowly directed, reasonable discovery is in order in this case to get it at the truth because the government is saying one thing, and you're saying another," Judge Alsup said.