Trump HR Office Illegally Directed Worker Firings, Judge Rules

President Donald Trump’s human resources office unlawfully directed federal agencies to fire thousands of workers recently hired to their jobs, a federal judge in California ruled.

The Office of Personnel Management “exceeded its own powers and usurped and exercised powers reserved by Congress to each individual relief defendant agency,” Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled late Friday.

The ruling, for now, weakens the power of the OPM and its Trump-appointed director, Scott Kupor, from reshaping the federal workforce.

But Alsup, a Clinton appointee, didn’t order reinstatement of the fired workers while granting partial summary judgment to the unions that sued. He noted that the US Supreme Court has “made clear” it will overrule lower courts that make the attempt.

Additionally, the fired probationary employees have “moved on with their lives and found new jobs,” he said.

“Many would no longer be willing or able to return to their posts,” Alsup added. “The agencies in question have also transformed in the intervening months by new executive priorities and sweeping reorganization. Many probationers would have no post to return to.”

Instead, he ordered OPM and other defendant agencies to update the fired workers’ personnel files and send them letters stating they were not terminated based on performance or conduct. The agencies must do so by Nov. 14, with the exception of OPM, the State Department, the Office of Management and Budget, and NASA.

Agencies named in the case include: the departments of Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, Treasury, Transportation, and Agriculture.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal the decision. The Supreme Court already blocked a March 13 injunction ordering agencies to rehire about 16,000 terminated workers at that time, and blocked a group of nonprofits from attempting to sue on behalf of federal workers. The re-hiring freeze was temporary, however, allowing lower courts to rule on the merits.

Trump’s attorneys have insisted that OPM advised—but did not unilaterally direct—agencies to fire workers. The office was within its scope “to provide guidance to clarify how agencies should carry out the President’s directive while still exercising their own authority to hire, retain, and terminate employees,” the administration told the court.

The case is AFGE v. Trump, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-01780, 9/12/25.