From today’s NPR News:
Thousands of federal employees fired by the Trump administration must be offered job reinstatement within the next week, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco has ruled, because he said they were terminated unlawfully.
“It is 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 is a lie,” Judge William Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said before issuing his ruling from the bench.
The Thursday decision marks a significant stand against President Trump’s sweeping efforts to remake the federal government. The White House has appealed the decision.
The administration’s job cuts targeted federal workers with probationary status, which usually means newer workers, and makes them easier to let go. Employees recently promoted into a new position can also be considered probationary.
Many probationary employees were fired for “performance reasons,” according to their termination notices, even though many employees had received positive feedback from supervisors.
“It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements,” Alsup said.
The judge also ordered the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to prove within seven days that it had offered reinstatement to all fired probationary employees at the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs.
Read the complete story here.