A federal judge on Thursday said the Trump Administration’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) illegally fired thousands of probationary employees.
US District Judge William Alsup, a Clinton appointee, ordered the Trump Administration to rehire thousands of fired probationary employees in six federal agencies.
The judge blasted the Trump Administration and said he felt “misled by the US Government” as he ordered six federal agencies to offer reinstatement to fired probationary workers.
“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 avoid statutory requirements.”
ALSUP: “It is sad, 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.”
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 13, 2025
The six government agencies include: VA, DOD, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Agriculture.
UPDATE: Alsup will also require offer of reinstatement to fired probationary employees at DOD, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Agriculture
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 13, 2025
According to the latest data from the Office of Personnel Management, there were approximately 220,000 federal workers who had not yet completed their probationary period as of March 2024.
It is unclear how many probationary employees Trump has already fired, but there are potentially 200,000+ federal employees across government agencies.
Terminations occurred in various departments, including Energy, Veterans Affairs, Education, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Small Business Administration.
According to far-left CNN, employees received termination notices via emails, form letters, and video calls.
At OPM, dozens of probationary employees were fired on a Microsoft Teams call.
Between 1,200 and 2,000 workers were laid off at the Department of Energy, including hundreds from the office overseeing the nuclear stockpile.
Nearly 1,300 probationary employees, accounting for about 10% of CDC’s workforce, were let go.
