On Friday evening, US District Judge William Alsup, a Clinton appointee, barred the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from directing the termination of more probationary employees.
President Trump previously fired tens of thousands of probationary workers as he worked to downsize the federal government and cut waste.
Last month, Judge Alsup ordered the Trump Administration to rehire thousands of fired probationary employees in six federal agencies.
The six government agencies include: VA, DOD, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Agriculture.
However, last Tuesday, the US Supreme Court temporarily blocked Judge Alsup’s order and sided with the Trump Administration.
On Friday evening, Judge Alsup called the “boiler template” used to fire the federal workers “a sham” and prohibited the OPM from directing the termination of more probationary employees.
Agencies, however, are allowed to fire workers individually based on performance.
JUST IN: Judge William Alsup reimposes injunction against Trump admin’s mass firing of probationary workers at some fed agencies. But he will allow agencies to assert they made individualized decisions to fire. Doc: https://t.co/DP3tKS9t1V
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) April 18, 2025
In a separate case, a federal appeals court last Wednesday cleared the way for President Trump to fire thousands of probationary workers across 18 federal agencies.
Last month, a federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to rehire approximately 20,000 probationary workers across 18 different agencies.
US District Judge James Bredar, an Obama appointee, said the Trump Administration cannot conduct massive layoffs without warning the workers.
“When the federal government terminates large numbers of its employees, including those still on probation because they were recently hired or promoted, it must follow certain rules,” the judge wrote in a 56-page order. “Some of those rules are intended to help states manage the consequences of sudden, mass layoffs.”
Judge Bredar extended his block but only in DC and the 19 states that filed a lawsuit. The judge did not issue a nationwide injunction.
The Virginia-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, granted the Trump Administration a motion for a stay of the preliminary injunction pending appeal.
The three-judge panel included: Allison Rushing (Trump), Harvie Wilkinson (Reagan), and DeAndrea Benjamin (Biden).
“The Supreme Court has stayed a similar preliminary injunction issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California,” the judge wrote, citing last Tuesday’s decision from the Supreme Court in a separate case.
