A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday cleared the way for 18 federal agencies to potentially re-fire thousands of employees who had been terminated as part of a Trump administration workforce reduction initiative. These employees had previously been reinstated by a lower court judge.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia, stated that the lower court likely overstepped its authority by ordering the reinstatement of probationary government employees after determining their initial firings violated mass layoff regulations.
This ruling impacts employees residing or working in Washington, D.C., and 19 states that filed a lawsuit challenging the mass firings. The Trump administration's appeal is pending.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday also paused a separate ruling in San Francisco that would have required six agencies to reinstate nearly 17,000 probationary workers.
In mid-February, federal agencies terminated approximately 25,000 probationary employees following a directive from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to identify non-essential probationary workers.