
The Treasury Department and several other federal agencies told a US judge that her order temporarily halting layoffs tied to the government shutdown doesn't apply to more than 2,000 employees who have already received firing notices.
In
Earlier this week, US District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco
At a hearing Friday afternoon, Illston agreed to expand her TRO to add more federal worker unions after their lawyers said there's an "urgent" need to prevent imminent layoffs and complained that the Trump administration is "too narrowly" interpreting who is protected from RIFs.
Illston clarified her previous order to make clear that members of the unions can't be laid off for the time being even if the administration no longer recognizes those unions as collective bargaining units — which is the subject of another legal dispute.
A lawyer for the unions sparred with an attorney for the administration over whether the Department of Interior may be poised to issue new layoff notices early next week to as many as 1,500 people.
Elizabeth Hedges, who represents the Office of Management and Budget, said she was not personally aware of any further shutdown-related RIFs. She sought to reassure the judge that the government is trying to comply with her order, even as union lawyer Danielle Leonard alleged that the government is playing "hide the ball" with its layoff plans.
Illston advised Hedges to "err on the side of caution" and urge her clients to be "careful" not to violate the TRO.
The administration
Treasury dismissals were concentrated largely at the Internal Revenue Service, the department's biggest bureau, including IT and Large Business and International Division workers, according to earlier court filings. The firings also wiped out the staff of Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution Fund, which supports financial services in disadvantaged areas. Congressional Republicans have urged the White House to reinstate the fund's employees.
Health and Human Services initiated layoffs for 982 employees, but an official said in a Friday declaration that those employees were in "operating and staff divisions" that lacked union bargaining units, so they weren't covered by Illston's order.
The administration identified 54 layoffs at the Homeland Security Department, but an official offered a similar explanation for why those aren't blocked in a Friday declaration.
A Homeland Security Department spokesperson declined to comment. A Health and Human Services spokesperson declined to comment. A Treasury spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a spokesperson for the unions that sued.
The case is American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. Office of Management and Budget, 25-cv-8302, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).