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Note: Text emphasis was added to the SF Chronicle report.President Donald Trump’s administration is apparently shrugging off a San Francisco federal judge’s order that thousands of federal employees who were summarily fired last month must be immediately returned to work.
According to a court filing by the administration on Wednesday, nearly 16,000 employees in five federal agencies have had their salaries and benefits restored but remain on “administrative leave” — sidelined from their jobs — for an unstated period until their firings are officially revoked “and they are able to complete onboarding procedures.”
U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who had ruled the mass firings illegal, ordered the agencies on March 13 to reinstate the employees to their jobs immediately. Placing them on administrative leave, he said, would not comply with the injunction he had issued against their firings, because “it would not restore the services the preliminary injunction intends to restore.”
The mass firings began after Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, issued a directive Feb. 13 telling agencies to dismiss probationary employees and tell them their work was unsatisfactory.
Ordered by Alsup to explain his directive, Ezell declined to testify, saying the memo was merely “guidance” and he had withdrawn it. But a senior adviser in his department, Noah Peters, is scheduled to be questioned under oath by lawyers for the employees next Wednesday. Another federal judge, in Maryland, issued similar reinstatement orders to 18 government agencies last week.
In ruling the firings illegal on Feb. 27, Alsup cited evidence that the firing notices had been issued to workers who had recently been given high ratings by their employers.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his ruling Monday and agreed the fired workers must be rehired immediately, rejecting the Trump administration’s request to leave them idle while it appeals Alsup’s decision. On Thursday, the Justice Department asked the appeals court to put the case on hold, and delay rehirings, while it works on a possible appeal to the Supreme Court.
“Reinstatement, while incredibly burdensome for the government, has at best an attenuated impact on any specific services” sought by advocates for the workers, Justice Department attorney Fasen Ross told the appeals court. “It disserves both the government and taxpayers to require the government to continue employing individuals whose services the government has determined it no longer requires — money that cannot be recovered if the government ultimately prevails.”
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved.
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved. Powered by Vanilla
Comments
I am slightly optimistic
Will the administration brazenly disregard these rulings?
I truly hope this does not happen.
We will have a real constitutional crisis and all hell will break loose if this occurs!