Senior U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup, appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton, is ordering the reinstatement of non-union organizational employees to agencies such as the National Parks Service (NPS), Department of Veterans Affairs, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Department of Defense (DoD). Thousands of probationary and non-union government workers have been dismissed by the Trump administration under the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in recent weeks, though Judge Alsup’s ruling undoes those terminations for now.
The ruling provides relief in a lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees and several other unions representing government employees, who contend their dismissals from various agencies were unlawfully directed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) based on purported performance issues.
Judge Alsup also halted the OPM’s orders amid concerns that additional federal employees might face unwarranted termination. He ruled that union-represented employees must resolve their cases through administrative channels like the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and the National Labor Relations Authority (NLRA).
The plaintiffs argued that the terminations were the result of directives from Charles Ezell, OPM’s acting head, rather than independent agency decisions. Conversely, the government attorneys contended that the OPM’s communications to agency heads were merely advisory, urging them to assess employee performance. They emphasized that agency heads had the discretion to decide on employment status.
During the proceedings, Judge Alsup expressed skepticism about the defense’s position, pointing to sworn statements from agency heads suggesting OPM-directed terminations. Acknowledging the lack of records from a critical February 13 phone call between OPM and agency heads, Alsup scheduled an evidentiary hearing for March 13 to examine the call, requiring Ezell’s testimony.
