Federal judge extends halt to shutdown-related terminations
A federal district court judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday extending a previous court-imposed block on attempts within the U.S. government to terminate workers as a result of the shutdown.
Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted the federal worker union plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction during a Tuesday hearing, per a minute entry in the docket. A written order was forthcoming but not yet available.
The oral ruling comes roughly two weeks after Illston issued a temporary restraining order, pausing federal agency reductions-in-force during the government shutdown. During the hearing for that order, Illston said those RIFs appeared to be “politically motivated.”
Illston’s decision is the latest in a challenge by the American Federation of Government Employees and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. That complaint argued a memo and guidance to agencies instructing them to consider RIFs in the event of a shutdown exceeded the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management’s authority and was contrary to law.
Among their arguments, the unions argued that OMB’s communication to agencies on RIFs ahead of the shutdown misinterpreted the Antideficiency Act. That communication asked agencies to carry out “RIFs as ‘excepted activities’ during a shutdown,” which is not stated under that law, the unions argued.
Illston agreed with that assessment in issuing the initial temporary restraining order.
The government, meanwhile, has stated that the plaintiffs haven’t shown irreparable harm, arguing, among other things, that the loss of employment in the federal government is generally seen as reparable.
In addition to the preliminary injunction, Illston also granted a request from plaintiffs to file a second amended complaint with additional plaintiff organizations and agency defendants. The unions filed that request after learning that RIFs at other federal agencies, including the Department of Interior, were imminent.
The White House referred a request for comment on the preliminary injunction to OMB. Spokespeople for OMB didn’t immediately provide a response.
