Federal Agency Planning Mass Layoffs Despite Judge’s Order, Union Says

The Trump administration has said the Supreme Court is likely to overrule the lower court judge.

The Department of the Interior building sign in Washington on Dec. 12, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

After a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plans to initiate mass layoffs during the government shutdown, a union that filed the lawsuit said in court papers that the Department of the Interior (DOI) is planning to issue reduction-in-force notices next week.

In court papers filed on Thursday, American Federation of Government Employees’ attorney Danielle Leonard claimed that “multiple credible sources” said the Interior Department is scheduled to issue layoff notices on Monday, Oct. 20.

“This immediately raised concerns regarding compliance with this Court’s order,” Leonard wrote in a declaration submitted to U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who had blocked the layoff plan on Wednesday.

When the union asked lawyers for the government about the notices, an attorney with the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in an email that “consistent with the Court’s order, we will produce the required information tomorrow,” according to the court papers.

The Interior Department did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment.

Leonard also said that the union is seeking to add additional groups to the case in a bid to block the possible firings on Monday.

“In light of the risk of impending mass terminations at DOI, however, and Defendants’ refusal to disclose whether DOI will issue [reduction in force notices] and if so how they will ensure compliance with the TRO, Plaintiffs will file their motion for leave to file an amended complaint, to add as plaintiffs additional unions representing employees at DOI (and other affected agencies), along with an emergency request to expand the TRO to protect the employees that those unions represent, tomorrow morning,” the motion said, referring to the judge’s temporary restraining order.

In response to Leonard’s request, Illston wrote in an order on Thursday that she would move up a status conference to Friday afternoon.

In her order on Wednesday, Illston granted a temporary restraining order in response to the union’s request, arguing that it is “far from normal for an administration to fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party,” before referencing comments made by President Donald Trump on social media.

Illston cited a post made by Trump on Truth Social in which he said he was meeting with his budget director, Russell Vought, on Oct. 2 to discuss which Democrat-supported agencies to target.

Before her order, Vought told a podcast host that he would likely be initiating more layoffs and forecast that as many as 10,000 federal workers could be terminated during the shutdown. Court papers filed in the case last week by the Justice Department revealed that around 4,100 federal employees received layoff notices since the shutdown was initiated on Oct. 1.

“I think it‘ll get much higher,” Vought said. “I think we’ll probably end up being somewhere north of 10,000.”

On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that she believes the Supreme Court will overturn Illston’s restraining order, saying that another ruling that the judge issued over the summer was reversed.

“This judge tried to say that the president of the United States does not have the executive authority to hire and fire in the executive branch,” Leavitt told reporters.

“And of course, the Supreme Court rejected that ruling in July, and they said, ‘No, the president does have the ability and the legal authority to fire people from the federal government. That is a responsibility of his job as the head of the executive branch.'”