Court orders reinstatement of fired probationary federal employees

A district court ordered six federal departments to offer reinstatement to thousands of probationary employees who were fired a month ago, after deeming their terminations "unlawful."

In a hearing held in California, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled against the Trump administration's decision, assuring that the dismissals did not comply with the law and demanding the reinstatement of those affected.

The statement was directly issued by Judge Alsup to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is responsible for providing management and support to federal agencies when recruiting manpower.

"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," Alsup said during the hearing. "That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements."

The six entities that will have to abide by the court ruling are: the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury.

In late February, Judge Alsup ordered the OPM to revoke the Trump administration's directives that initiated the mass layoff of probationary workers in the U.S. government.

The magistrate blocked the decision under the pretext that the layoffs were illegal, as claimed by different unions and organizations led by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

AFGE and the rest of the plaintiffs argued in legal documents that OPM committed an illegal act by ordering government agencies, a couple of weeks ago, to lay off all workers who were on probation, defined as those in their first or second year on the job. In addition, they added that in certain cases, certain employees with many years of experience who were starting new positions were classified as probationary workers.