Judge blasts Trump's mass firing of probationary employees as a 'sham' and orders jobs to be reinstated

• A judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate fired federal probationary employees.
• The judge said the explanation for firing them for performance issues was a "sham" and a "lie."
• The ruling affects employees in the departments of Defense, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and others.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the jobs of probationary federal employees across multiple agencies, blasting the procedure behind their mass firings as a "sham."

Ruling from the bench in a San Francisco courthouse, US District Judge William Alsup said the Office of Personnel Management — the federal government's human resources department — had no basis for claiming the employees were fired for "performance" issues.

Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said the explanation was a "gimmick" to circumvent legal requirements for laying off federal employees.

"It is sad, 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, according to Politico.

The firings were part of President Donald Trump's initiative to shrink the federal workforce, led by the White House's DOGE office.

Alsup previously ruled the OPM "does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe" to tell another agency to fire its employees.

His new ruling orders the departments of Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs to offer fired probationary employees their jobs back.

An IRS employee who was terminated in February, and who expects to be reinstated following Alsup's order, told BI that "it's pretty awesome."

"It's relieving to an extent," the employee said. "I have been job-hunting and had an interview yesterday, but obviously you never know when you'll get a job offer."

Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing the government employees, said the order would save tens of thousands of jobs.

"We are grateful for these employees and the critical work they do, and AFGE will keep fighting until all federal employees who were unjustly and illegally fired are given their jobs back," Kelley said.

Representatives for the Trump administration didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, praised Alsup's ruling and urged the Trump administration to promptly restore the jobs of fired government employees.

"The Trump-Musk Administration must immediately respect the court's decision and reinstate these dedicated civil servants — including nuclear researchers, park rangers, VA health care workers, and more — so they can get back to work on behalf of the American people," Connolly said in a statement.