Appeals court clears way to re-fire federal workers

ALBANY, New York — A US appeals court cleared the way on Wednesday for 18 federal agencies to again fire thousands of employees who were reinstated after losing their jobs as part of US President Donald Trump's purge of the federal workforce.

The 4th United States Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the lower court judge in Maryland that ordered they be reinstated likely lacked the power to hear the lawsuit brought by 19 states and Washington, DC, to challenge the mass firings of probationary government employees in February.

Probationary employees typically have less than a year of service in their roles, though some are longtime federal workers in new jobs.

In its 2-1 decision, the appeals court stayed the Maryland ruling pending the Trump administration's appeal, removing the last legal roadblock preventing the government from firing the employees again.

On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court paused a separate ruling by a judge in San Francisco requiring six agencies to reinstate nearly 17,000 probationary workers. Since five of those agencies were also defendants in the Maryland case, the practical effect of the high court's ruling had been limited.

The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, which is leading the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said the appeals court had upheld the president's removal powers. "The Trump administration continues to rack up legal wins for the American people," Rogers said.

Federal agencies terminated roughly 25,000 probationary employees in mid-February after the US Office of Personnel Management directed them to identify probationary workers who were not essential.

The firings were part of a broader effort by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy and slash government spending, which has invited a series of legal challenges.

US District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore, Maryland, had issued a temporary restraining order requiring the government to reinstate about 24,600 probationary workers in March. Last week, he narrowed his ruling to people who live or work in Washington, DC, and the states that filed the lawsuit. The appeals court paused that ruling on Wednesday.

The states said the mass firings violated a federal law requiring agencies to give states 60 days' notice of mass layoffs, and would lead to a spike in unemployment claims and demand for social services.

Meanwhile, about 4,000 employees of the US Transportation Department have applied to take a buyout plan that offers pay and benefits through Sept 30, a department official told Reuters. The figure is not final because it may include employees who are not eligible or some who sent more than one email seeking the buyout, the official said.

The offer, made last week, exempts public safety positions such as Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers and cybersecurity employees.

In February, about 75,000 federal employees across the government accepted buyout offers in the first round of the program led by Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which has been tasked with cutting the size of the federal workforce.

More than a dozen other federal agencies have offered second chances for employees to take the offer in recent weeks.

Agencies Via Xinhua