WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court cleared the way Wednesday for President Trump’s administration to fire thousands of probationary workers, halting a judge’s order requiring them to be reinstated in a legal win for Trump’s effort to downsize the federal workforce.
The decision comes a day after the Supreme Court also sided with the Trump administration in another lawsuit filed over mass firings.
A split panel for the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals found the terminations of federal workers should probably be appealed through a separate employment process rather than fought out in federal court. Two judges appointed by Republican presidents sided with the administration, while a third Democratic appointed judge dissented.
The decision comes in a lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen states, who said the mass firings will cause irreparable burdens and expenses to support recently unemployed workers. They said at least 24,000 probationary employees have been terminated since Trump took office.
The states could still seek further review as the lawsuit plays out.
The Republican administration has argued that the states have no right to try to influence the federal government’s relationship with its own workers, but also had already reinstated some 15,000 workers to full duty or paid leave as the lawsuits played out, according to court documents.
The appeals court order halts a decision from US District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore, who was one of two judges appointed by Democratic presidents who found that the Trump administration violated federal laws in carrying out the terminations at 20 agencies in the states that sued.
Probationary workers have been targeted for layoffs across the federal government because they’re usually new to the job and lack full civil service protection.
