Latest news with #Bredar
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Appeals court frees Trump administration to resume probationary employee firings
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court order blocking the Trump administration from firing probationary workers, freeing the White House to fire thousands of federal workers. It blocks a ruling that protected probationary workers from being fired if they live or work in Washington, D.C., or the 19 states that sued over a Trump directive to fire government workers hired in the last year or two, depending on their agency. The 2-1 decision determined that the band of Democratic-led states likely do not have standing to sue over the directive, mimicking a Supreme Court ruling issued one day earlier in a separate challenge brought by that a coalition of government unions. Following both decisions, the Trump administration is no longer under any court order that requires the reinstatement of terminated probationary employees. U.S. Circuit Judges Allison Jones Rushing and J. Harvie Wilkinson III formed the 4th Circuit majority that sided with the administration. They were appointed by Trump and former President Reagan, respectively. In a dissenting opinion, however, Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, an appointee of former President Biden, said states could make the case they were impacted by the widespread firings, including through lost tax revenue and an expected increase in unemployment filings. The decision lifts an order from U.S. Circuit Judge James Bredar indefinitely barring the Trump administration from terminating thousands of probationary employees. He had declined to extend his order nationwide. Bredar had previously ordered officials to temporarily reinstate probationary employees fired at 18 agencies, no matter where they physically worked, but narrowed its application in his later ruling. The Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency have looked to make sweeping cuts to the federal bureaucracy, including mass terminations of federal employees in their probationary status. Bredar ruled the mass terminations constitute a 'reduction in force,' which requires notice and other procedures the Trump administration didn't follow. — Updated at 3:22 p.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
09-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Appeals court frees Trump administration to resume probationary employee firings
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court order blocking the Trump administration from firing probationary workers, freeing the White House to fire thousands of federal workers. It blocks a ruling that protected probationary workers from being fired if they live in the 19 states that sued over a Trump directive to fire government workers hired in the last year or two, depending on their agency. The 2-1 decision determined that a band of Democratic-led states likely do not have standing to sue over the directive, agreeing to lift a lower court ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from carrying out the firings. In a dissenting opinion, however, Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, a Biden appointee, said states could make the case they were impacted by the widespread firings, including through lost tax revenue and an expected increase in unemployment filings. The decision lifts an order from U.S. District Judge James Bredar indefinitely barring the Trump administration from terminating thousands of probationary employees. He had declined to extend his order nationwide. Bredar had previously ordered officials to temporarily reinstate probationary employees fired at 18 agencies, no matter where they physically worked, but narrowed its application in his later ruling. The Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have looked to make sweeping cuts to the federal bureaucracy, including mass terminations of federal employees in their probationary status. Bredar ruled the mass terminations constitute a 'reduction in force,' or RIF, which requires notice and other procedures the Trump administration didn't follow.
CBS News
03-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Maryland judge extends order requiring fired federal workers be rehired in 19 states
A federal judge who had ordered the Trump administration to reinstate fired federal probationary employees across the country at more than a dozen agencies has narrowed the scope of his ruling so it now applies to workers in the 19 states and the District of Columbia that challenged the mass dismissals. U.S. District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday night that protects those workers while the lawsuit continues. "Only states have sued here, and only to vindicate their interests as states," Bredar wrote. "They are not proxies for the workers." The order requires the 18 agencies originally named in the lawsuit to follow the law in conducting any future reductions in force. Bredar has now added the Defense Department and the Office of Personnel Management to that number. Bredar previously found that the firings amount to a large-scale reduction subject to specific rules, including giving advance notice to states affected by the layoffs. The lawsuit contends the mass firings will cause irreparable burdens and expenses on the states and the district because they will have to support recently unemployed workers and review and adjudicate claims of unemployment assistance. "When the Trump Administration fired tens of thousands of federal probationary employees, they claimed it was due to poor work performance. We know better," said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat who is leading the case. "This was a coordinated effort to eliminate the federal workforce –- even if it meant breaking the law." At least 24,000 probationary employees have been terminated since Trump took office, the lawsuit alleges. The government is appealing the case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Republican administration argues that the states have no right to try to influence the federal government's relationship with its own workers. Justice Department lawyers argued the firings were for performance issues, not large-scale layoffs subject to specific regulations. The administration is already appealing to the Supreme Court a similar order from a judge in California to reinstate probationary workers. The Justice Department asserts that federal judges cannot force the executive branch to reverse its decisions on hiring and firing. Still, the government has been taking steps to rehire fired workers under those orders. Probationary workers have been targeted for layoffs across the federal government because they're usually new to the job and lack full civil service protection. The states suing the Trump administration include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Washington Post
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Md. judge expands order barring Trump admin from firing federal workers
A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to continue reinstating probationary federal employees that were fired from 20 federal agencies since the president took office earlier this year, a ruling related to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of attorneys general challenging the legality of those terminations. In a preliminary injunction order filed late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar also barred the administration from conducting future layoffs of probationary workers at the affected agencies — unless those layoffs comply with the laws regulating such an action. Bredar's ruling, which gives the Trump administration until April 8 to comply, mirrors a temporary restraining order against 18 federal agencies that he granted last month, though it adds the Department of Defense and the Office of Personnel Management to the list. The order covers federal probationary workers who live or work in the one of 19 states and the District of Columbia that had attorneys general that joined the lawsuit. The ruling adds even more legal scrutiny of President Donald Trump's sweeping efforts to streamline federal agencies and curtails the hurried approach of the U.S. DOGE Service to carry out that mission. The judge said the federal government 'probably broke the laws that regulate en masse terminations of government employees' and that not enforcing those laws through an injunction would cause ongoing harm those affected. The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday appealed Bredar's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. The order stems from a lawsuit filed in early March by 20 Democratic attorneys general arguing that the mass layoffs of tens of thousands of federal probationary employees since Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration had violated federal laws and regulations that dictate the process for 'reductions in force,' known as RIFs. Under those rules, if the government terminates probationary employees en masse for reasons unrelated to performance, agencies must follow guidelines that include at least a 60-day notification to affected states so local officials can set up rapid-response teams to support a surge of unemployed residents. But, according to the lawsuit, the Trump administration did not do that. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, whose state is the lead plaintiff on the lawsuit, said the judge's preliminary injunction 'ensures Maryland jobs and resources are safe while we continue this fight in court.' 'These mass layoffs forced hardworking civil servants and their families into financial insecurity, a sudden and unexpected crisis that risked overwhelming our State's ability to help the unemployed,' Brown said in a statement. 'I will not let the president threaten our communities or the livelihoods of Marylanders just so he can fulfill his misguided goal of dismantling the federal government, in the name of government efficiency.' The other plaintiff states in the lawsuit include Minnesota, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia. The White House did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday, but Justice Department officials have asserted in court papers that a forced rehiring of about 24,000 would sow chaos, particularly when an appeals court might later allow the terminations to move forward. But the administration said it was nonetheless trying to comply with judicial orders, and has documented those efforts in several status reports to the court. Bredar said in court papers Tuesday that the 20 agencies included in his order are not barred from conducting future RIFs of probationary employees — as long as they comply with federal law, including the notification to states. The states had asked Bredar to extend the reach of the preliminary injunction beyond their 20 jurisdictions, encompassing workers in states that did not opt to join the lawsuit, many of them Republican-led. But the judge denied that request and limited the scope to only the plaintiff states. A broader injunction may have been appropriate, Bredar said, if the lawsuit was on behalf of the thousands of probationary employees who had been laid off. 'But that is not the case,' Bredar wrote in his decision. 'Only states have sued here, and only to vindicate their interests as states.' In the lawsuit, the Democratic attorneys general described a host of challenges onset by the mass firings, including upticks in unemployment claims that they've been ill-prepared to process because of the federal government's failure to warn them.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge extends block on probationary employee firings, but only in some states
A federal judge Tuesday indefinitely barred the Trump administration from terminating thousands of probationary employees, but he declined to extend his order nationwide. U.S. District Judge James Bredar previously ordered officials to temporarily reinstate probationary employees fired at 18 agencies, no matter where they physically worked. Replacing that order, the judge's new preliminary injunction covers two additional agencies, the Defense Department and the Office of Personnel Management. But it simultaneously limits the reinstatements to only those employees whose 'duty station' is within Washington, D.C., and the 19 states that are suing. 'Only states have sued here, and only to vindicate their interests as states. They are not proxies for the workers,' wrote Bredar, an appointee of former President Obama. 'Presumably well informed, each state is entitled to decide for itself whether it will seek relief in the present circumstances; it would be inappropriate for the Court to fashion relief having the consequence that decisions properly reserved to the non-party states are effectively, and unnecessarily overruled by this Court,' he continued. The Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have looked to make sweeping cuts to the federal bureaucracy, including mass terminations of federal employees in their probationary status, meaning those generally in their first or second year in a position. Bredar ruled the mass terminations constitute a 'reduction in force,' or RIF, which requires notice and other procedures the Trump administration didn't follow. 'The government can terminate probationary employees en masse…. but when it does so it must follow certain laws and regulations,' the judge wrote. 'Recently, government agencies executed a series of mass terminations, but when they did so, on the record before the Court, they failed to follow mandatory RIF procedures.' Bredar's order includes probationary employees fired in the mass terminations at the Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs departments. It also covers the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, General Services Administration, Office of Personnel Management, Small Business Administration and U.S. Agency for International Development. The employees must work in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin or Washington, D.C. Republicans have increasingly criticized district judges in recent weeks who have issued nationwide blocks on Trump's policies, and some GOP lawmakers are making moves to restrict district judges' ability to grant relief beyond the parties before them. Bredar's ruling is the broadest current injunction blocking the Trump administration's attempt to terminate probationary employees, but it is just one of multiple lawsuits proceeding through the courts. In a separate case, the Trump administration has appealed a judge's ruling reinstating 16,000 probationary employees across six agencies to the Supreme Court. The court is expected to rule on the emergency application after the plaintiffs respond in writing Thursday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
