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charles ezell
Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reverse 'Sham' Mass Firing of Federal Workers
"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's a lie."
Mar 13, 2025
A U.S. judge on Thursday ruled that the Trump administration must reinstate thousands of government workers fired from half a dozen federal agencies based on the "lie" that their performance warranted termination.
U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California William Alsup—an appointee of former President Bill Clinton—granted a preliminary injunction supporting a temporary restraining order against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and acting Director Charles Ezell on the grounds that the mass firing of probationary federal employees is "unlawful" because the agency lacked the authority for the move.
Alsup—who last month also found the OPM firings illegal—ordered the Trump administration to immediately reinstate all probationary employees terminated from the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.
"The reason that OPM wanted to put this based on performance was at least in part in my judgment a gimmick to avoid the Reductions in Force (RIF) Act, because the law always allows you to fire somebody for performance," Alsup said, referring the process used by federal agencies reduce the size of their workforce during reorganizations or budget cuts.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order directing Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to institute RIFs across federal agencies as part of a so-called "workforce optimization initiative."
"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's a lie," Alsup wrote. "That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements."
While the White House blasted Alsup's ruling as "absurd and unconstitutional" and lodged an appeal, advocates for government workers cheered the decision.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a statement that the union "is pleased with Judge Alsup's order to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of probationary federal employees who were illegally fired from their jobs by an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public."
"We are grateful for these employees and the critical work they do, and AFGE will keep fighting until all federal employees who were unjustly and illegally fired are given their jobs back," Kelley added.
Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said: "Public service workers are the backbone of our communities in every way. Today, we are proud to celebrate the court's decision which orders that fired federal employees must be reinstated and reinforces they cannot be fired without reason."
"This is a big win for all workers, especially AFSCME members of the United Nurses Associations of California and Council 20, who will be able to continue their essential work at the Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs Department, and other agencies," Saunders added.
Violet Wulf-Saena, founder and executive director of Climate Resilient Communities—a California-based nonprofit that "brings people together to create local solutions for a healthy planet"—also welcomed Thursday's ruling.
"The mass firing of public service employees is a direct assault on the environmental justice movement and will harm people living in heavily polluted communities," she said. "Today's decision represents a key win for our movement because our lifesaving work cannot proceed without the vital infrastructure and support of our federal employees."
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Major Public Sector Unions Sue Over Trump's 'Politicization' of Civil Service
The head of a legal group representing the plaintiffs called the Trump administration's effort to "politicize" nonpartisan federal employees "simply and clearly illegal."
Jan 30, 2025
Two unions representing federal employees filed a complaint in federal court on Wednesday arguing that U.S. President Donald Trump "illegally exceeded his authority" by attempting to roll back Biden-era worker protections when he implemented his "Schedule F" executive order, a measure aimed at removing job protections for many career federal employees.
The plaintiffs are the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents some 800,000 federal civilian employees, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents some 1.4 million public employees, including federal workers.
The unions argue that Schedule F, which creates a new category of federal employees and makes it easier for a president to remove career civil servants not normally impacted by a presidential transition, is a scheme that put politics over professionalism.
"Despite this long-standing recognition of the importance of our professional civil service and protections against its politicization, the recently issued Schedule F order announces President Trump's intent to reclassify many career civil servants into a new category of federal employees and strip away their civil service protections so that they can be more easily fired," the plaintiffs argued.
Another union representing federal employees, National Treasury Employees Union, also filed a lawsuit challenging Schedule F last week.
The order, signed on Trump's first day in office, is a redux of an executive order that he implemented at the tail end of his first term, which was later reversed by former President Joe Biden.
In a statement Wednesday, AFSCME president Lee Saunders said that Schedule F "is a shameless attempt to politicize the federal workforce by replacing thousands of dedicated, qualified civil servants with political cronies."
"Our union was born in the fight for a professional, nonpartisan civil service, and our communities will pay the price if these anti-union extremists are allowed to undo decades of progress by stripping these workers of their freedoms. Together, we are fighting back," he said.
On Monday, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued guidance for the heads of departments and agencies to determine which workers are subject to Trump's Schedule F order.
The memo from OPM is "broadly worded; just about anyone in the civil service could be swept up into this category," Alan Lescht, a Washington, D.C.-based employment lawyer who represents federal workers, told the outlet Axios.
OPM, acting OPM Director Charles Ezell, and Trump are all listed as defendants in the lawsuit, which alleges that Trump overstepped his legal authority when he issued Schedule F and rendered parts of a preexisting OPM rule that reinforced civil service protections and merit system principles "inoperative and without effect."
The suit argues that OPM failed to adhere to the "notice-and-comment process" under Administrative Procedure Act when it rendered those regulatory provisions inoperative.
"In just the nine days since Trump took office, his administration has repeatedly demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law in service of its political objectives," said Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman, whose firm is serving as co-counsel for the plaintiffs, in a Wednesday statement.
The Trump administration's effort "to politicize the nonpartisan, independent federal employees who protect our national and domestic security, ensure our food and medications are safe, deliver essential services to people and communities everywhere, and much more is simply and clearly illegal," Perryman said.
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'Musk Lackeys' Have Reportedly Seized Control of Key Federal Office
"I've been an OPM employee for nearly a decade and a federal employee for almost 20 years," reads a since-deleted Reddit post. "I've never witnessed anything even remotely close to what's happening right now."
Jan 29, 2025
The unglamorous but key federal office that sent out a mass "deferred resignation" offer to federal employees on Tuesday has reportedly been taken over by people with ties to Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a close confidant of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Citing unnamed sources, Wired reported Tuesday that "the highest ranks of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)—essentially the human resources function for the entire federal government—are now controlled by people with connections to Musk and to the tech industry." Musk reportedly visited OPM headquarters late last week.
Wired, which described the individuals as "Musk lackeys," declined to name some of the newly installed OPM officials because of their ages. One of the officials "was set to start college last fall," and another "is a 21-year-old whose online résumé touts his work for Palantir, the government contractor and analytics firm co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel."
Among the officials the outlet names are Riccardo Biasini, a former Tesla engineer who is now a senior adviser to the OPM director, and Amanda Scales, who previously worked at xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company. Scales is now chief of staff at OPM, which is currently led by Acting Director Charles Ezell.
A since-deleted Reddit post purportedly authored by an OPM employee describes Ezell as "the friendliest 'yes man' you'll ever meet."
"I've been an OPM employee for nearly a decade and a federal employee for almost 20 years. I've never witnessed anything even remotely close to what's happening right now. In short, there's a hostile takeover of the federal civil service," the post stated. "It's clear they pushed aside all the high-level nonpolitical civil servants who refused to do Donald Trump's bidding, until they found Chuck [Ezell]."
"The 'Fork in the Road' email had the same title as one that Elon Musk sent to Twitter when he took over there, informing workers to be 'extremely hardcore' or take the resignation offer."
The heavy presence of Musk allies and associates at OPM further entrenches the influence of the mega-billionaire inside the Trump administration, which has moved swiftly—and unlawfully—to purge the federal workforce and exert control over funding approved by Congress.
The American Prospect's David Dayen noted Wednesday that the email OPM sent to federal employees earlier this week offering full pay and benefits through September for all workers who opt to resign was "an Elon Musk operation, through and through."
"In fact, the 'Fork in the Road' email had the same title as one that Elon Musk sent to Twitter when he took over there, informing workers to be 'extremely hardcore' or take the resignation offer," Dayen wrote. "The Twitter emails even included the same ask of workers to reply with their decision."
"This is alternately questionably legal, potentially a bait and switch, dubiously effective as a budget-reducer, maybe even a budget-buster, and definitively harrowing for two million workers being subjected to a misery-inducing campaign for the sport of the world's richest man," Dayen added.
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