Judge orders Donald Trump to rehire thousands of employees fired for 'poor performance' by him and Elon Musk
A US District Court judge has commanded President Donald Trump to rehire thousands of federal employees who were dismissed based on what the judge called a 'lie'.
California federal judge William H Alsup determined that at least 30,000 probationary staff working across six major departments - Veterans Affairs, Energy, Defense, Agriculture, Treasury, and Interior - were wrongfully terminated for allegedly 'poor performance'.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) executed these mass dismissals. This team operates under Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Their goal aims to make the US government more efficient by cutting jobs and reducing salary expenses. The department plans to complete its work and dissolve itself by July 4, 2026 - next year's Independence Day.
According to Trump, DOGE exists to "dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies."
Speaking in court on March 13, Judge Alsup stated about the firings: "It is sad, a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie."
Many dismissed employees learned they lost their jobs due to supposed poor performance, despite having received positive evaluations from supervisors before their termination.
This marks Judge Alsup's second ruling on this issue. On February 27, he declared these firings illegal because the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) lacked authority to order such dismissals.
Following the mass terminations, the OPM modified a January 20 memo regarding probationary employees. The American Federation of Government Employees interpreted this amendment as the OPM's acknowledgment of unlawful actions.
The union released a statement earlier this month, partially stating: "OPM's revision of its Jan 20 memo clearly admits it unlawfully directed federal agencies to perform mass terminations of probationary employees – which matches Judge Alsup's recent decision in our lawsuit challenging these illegal firings. "All agencies should promptly cancel these unlawful terminations and restore all illegally dismissed staff."
This development occurs as a federal judge directed DOGE to disclose its governmental strategy and name all its personnel.
