A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Office of Personnel Management to withdraw the directives to several agencies that began the mass firings of probationary employees, saying the dismissals probably were illegal. The OPM lacked the authority to order the firings, US District Judge William Alsup ruled in granting a temporary restraining order sought by labor unions in a lawsuit, the Washington Post reports. The OPM "does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees at another agency," Alsup said in his San Francisco courtroom. "They can hire and fire their own employees."
The office now must tell that to agencies, per the AP. Government attorneys argue that the OPM did not direct the firings but only asked agencies to conduct reviews and determine whether workers on probation should remain employed. The judge did not order the agencies to stop the dismissals, per the Hill. The ruling nevertheless constitutes one of President Trump's biggest defeats in cutting the government workforce, per the Post. Department of Defense employees were not covered by the suit, but Alsup said he expects the Pentagon to follow the ruling anyway. "I am going to count on the government do the right thing and to go a little bit further than I have ordered," he said. (More Office of Personnel Management stories.)