US federal appeals court pauses reinstatement of fired probationary federal workers – JURIST
A US federal appeals court on Wednesday granted the US government’s motion for a stay pending appeal to a district court’s order that federal agencies and executive departments reinstate fired probationary federal workers and refrain from firing any additional federal workers without proper notice.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government met the requirements for a stay, including a likely success on the merits of its appeal, and that it would suffer irreparable harm if the stay is denied. The court reasoned that the government will likely be able to show that the district court in Maryland lacked jurisdiction over the states’ claims and that the government will never be able to recover the employee payments incurred during the reinstatement.
In her dissent, Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin wrote that states have standing to argue that they were harmed when the government failed to provide them with a required 60-day notice of the mass layoffs of federal employees.
In early March, nineteen states and the District of Columbia sued 41 defendants, including federal executive departments, agencies, and the leaders of those units. The complaint alleged that the federal departments and agencies violated federal law when the government ignored proper procedures for a reduction in force and quickly fired thousands of probationary workers.
Earlier this month, US District Judge James K. Bredar ordered the government to reinstate fired probationary federal workers in the plaintiff states and to not fire any additional workers as part of the government’s mass layoffs. While the appeals court ruled two-to-one in favor of the government on its motion to stay Judge Bredar’s order, the court did not make a determination on the original claims in the complaint.
On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court stayed a separate ruling by Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The order would have similarly required the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of federal employees who were fired as part of the executive branch’s efforts to downsize administrative agencies.
