A coalition of 20 state attorneys general sued two dozen federal agencies under the Trump administration on March 6, and are seeking the reinstatement of tens of thousands of workers who were laid off in recent weeks.
The AGs claim that the mass terminations of probationary workers – those who had been in their jobs for less than one year, was illegal because the agencies did not comply with legal requirements for reductions in force (RIFs), according to Maryland AG Anthony Brown and the others. One of the requirements is that 60 days of advance notice is given to workers and states.
“The Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”) has unlawfully directed federal agencies to conduct mass terminations of probationary employees, suddenly and without any advance notice,” reads the complaint, filed in federal court in Maryland. “Defendants have followed through on this directive, firing employees by the hundreds and, in many instances, thousands—all without following the procedures for conducting RIFs and without providing notice to the affected employees or states.”
According to the states, they have suffered harm because they’re struggling to identify which agencies have conducted layoffs and which terminated workers require state support. They also claim that terminated workers have sought unemployment and other social services.
“These layoffs are not only harmful to the federal workforce, but they’re also straining state resources and risk overburdening Maryland,” said Brown in a video statement.
The states are demanding that the court order the 21 agency defendants to stop mass terminations of probationary workers and reinstate any who were fired on or after Jan. 20, when Trump was sworn in.
“The Trump Administration’s sweeping mass firing of probationary federal employees is simply unlawful,” said California AG Rob Bonta in a statement, adding that over 200,000 federal workers are currently on probationary status.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in California recently ordered the immediate reinstatement of some probationary workers who had been fired, including some with the Department of Defense.
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