A judge plans to temporarily freeze the Trump administration’s firing of federal workers during the government shutdown.
A lawsuit, filed by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and American Federation of Government Employees in a Northern California District Court, alleges that the Trump administration’s staff cuts at government agencies are “unlawfully laying off employees during the shutdown, and improperly using the shutdown as the basis for the layoffs.”
Bloomberg Law originally reported that Judge Susan Illston, who is overseeing the case, issued a temporary restraining order on the layoffs in a hearing on Wednesday, and the court’s clerk confirmed the ruling to Business Insider.
AFSCME President Lee Saunders told reporters in a statement that “This decision affirms that these threatened mass firings are likely illegal and blocks layoff notices from going out.”
In a press statement, AFGE National President Everett Kelley added that, “We are pleased with the court’s ruling halting these unlawful terminations and preventing the administration from further targeting hardworking civil servants during the shutdown.”
A filing from the Office of Management and Budget on October 10 reviewed by Business Insider indicated that between 4,132 and 4,232 federal workers were marked for layoffs, with some receiving RIF notices that day. The Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security, and Treasury are impacted.
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Layoffs are paused, but federal workers are on edge
Administration sources told Business Insider that the numbers in the filing are “just a snapshot in time” and that more RIFs are coming. On a Wednesday episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, OMB head Russell Vought said that the layoffs will total about 10,000.
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His comments follow a pre-shutdown memo from The Office of Management and Budget directing federal agencies to “consider” terminations for employees working in programs that are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.” A HHS spokesperson said “multiple divisions are receiving reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown,” and a spokesperson for the Department of Energy said affected employees “played a major role in the Biden administration’s war on American Energy.”
The Treasury and Health and Human Services Departments saw the biggest cuts last week, with over 1,000 employees from each agency on the termination list.
A few hundred workers at the Centers for Disease Control also mistakenly received RIF notices at the end of last week, but were told over the weekend that they can remain in their posts. An HHS spokesperson told Business Insider that “the employees who received incorrect notifications were never separated from the agency and have all been notified that they are not subject to the reduction in force.” The CDC union confirmed that “around 700 employees received emails rescinding their illegal terminations. More than 600 workers remain unjustly fired.”
Business Insider has spoken with around two dozen employees across agencies since the shutdown began. Hundreds of thousands remain furloughed or are working without pay. Staff at the National Park Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, CDC, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, and more said that a lack of job security has them cutting back on spending. A few said they are pausing kids’ soccer and dance classes to save money, forgoing vacations and car repairs, or applying for food stamps.
The Navy Federal Credit Union, USAA, the Maryland Department of Labor, and other programs have offered bridge loans to federal employees who are currently missing pay, and told Business Insider they are seeing a spike in enrollment.
This isn’t the first wave of federal staff cuts this year. Since Trump took office in January, over 200,000 federal workers have lost their jobs and thousands more have left their government posts through retirement, buyouts, quits, and deferred resignations — much of it under DOGE’s cost-cutting spree. A July 8 Supreme Court ruling gave the Trump administration a green light to continue mass firings.
The Trump administration will have the opportunity to appeal Wednesday’s decision. The White House referred Business Insider to OMB. The agency did not immediately respond for comment.
