Thousands of federal public service workers who keep this country running can return to their jobs because the administration illegally fired them, a judge ruled Thursday in a case filed by AFSCME, UNAC and other groups.
Judge William H. Alsup, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ordered the administration to rehire thousands of probationary employees who were let go from the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior and Treasury.
Alsup found that the mass termination of probationary employees was illegal because the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had no authority to order it.
The workers should be offered reinstatement within the next week, Alsup ruled in a case filed by AFSCME, the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP, AFSCME), the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFGE Local 1216, and a number of allied nonprofit organizations.
AFSCME President Lee Saunders hailed the ruling as a “big win for all workers.”
“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,” Saunders said. “This is a big win for all workers, especially AFSCME members of the United Nurses Associations of California and District Council 20, who will be able to continue their essential work at the Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs Department, and other agencies.”
Alsup rejected the administration’s rationale that the probationary workers were fired for poor performance.
“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 said. “That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements.”
Earlier this month, Alsup issued a temporary restraining order ordering OPM to stop the mass firings.
On Thursday, he granted a preliminary injunction against OPM and Charles Ezell, OPM’s acting director, broadening that order. The judge also barred OPM from giving any guidance to federal agencies on which employees should be terminated. And the agencies must provide a compliance report to the court.
AFSCME and its partners filed the case on Feb. 19 after OPM ordered federal agencies to fire employees who are within one or two years of employment. AFSCME and other unions called the move “one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.”
AFSCME’s Get Organized campaign seeks to stop anti-union extremists and their billionaire friends from destroying the public services we provide and rolling back laws that protect our health and safety at work, our job security and even our freedom to join our union.
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