A federal judge has extended an order preventing the Trump administration from laying off thousands of federal employees during the ongoing government shutdown - a decision hailed by labor unions as a major victory for workers.
US district judge Susan Illston in San Francisco on Tuesday converted her earlier temporary restraining order (TRO) into a preliminary injunction, barring the administration from issuing reduction-in-force (RIF) notices until the federal government reopens, according to CNBC.
The order comes amid the second-longest government shutdown in US history, triggered by a funding lapse. The American federation of state, county and municipal employees (AFSCME) and the American federation of government employees (AFGE) had jointly filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration’s reported plans to terminate federal workers during the closure.
“Today’s ruling is another victory for federal workers and our ongoing efforts to protect their jobs from an administration hellbent on illegally firing them,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a statement. AFGE called the ruling a “big win for federal workers!”
The Trump administration had reportedly issued about 4,000 RIF notices on October 10 and projected the number could exceed 10,000, CNBC reported, citing White House budget director Russell Vought.
Vought, a key architect of the conservative policy blueprint Project 2025, had described the shutdown as an opportunity to downsize what President Donald Trump called “Democrat Agencies.”
Judge Illston, while imposing the initial TRO on October 15, had criticized the mid-shutdown layoffs as “unprecedented in our country’s history.”
Calling the injunction a crucial safeguard for public servants, Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which represents AFSCME, said: “Our team is honored to represent the civil servants who are fighting back against President Trump’s dangerous agenda, and to have won this crucial injunction that will help stop federal workers from continuing to be targeted and harassed by this administration during the shutdown.”
The unions have also expanded their lawsuit to cover several additional agencies and officials since the shutdown began.
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