The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a group of unions and granted an emergency request from the Trump administration to allow them to fire thousands of probationary federal workers as a part of the president’s plan to cut government spending.
Attorneys for the unions argued that the administration did not follow the proper procedures when the Office of Personnel Management issued a memo on Jan. 20 ordering agencies to determine whether probationary workers should be retained. The office followed up with an email ordering the agencies to fire the remaining probationers.
‘Under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing.’
The court ruled in favor of the administration because the litigants had a lack of standing to sue, according to the majority ruling.
“The District Court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case,” the majority ruling said. “But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing.”
The administration had appealed a ruling from a San Francisco judge ordering it to rehire 16,000 probationary workers from the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and Treasury.
“Courts do not have license to block federal workplace reforms at the behest of anyone who wishes to retain particular levels of general government services,” argued government attorney John Sauer in court.
A spokesperson for the unions in the lawsuit called the ruling “disappointing” but said they would press on.
“Despite this setback, our coalition remains unwavering in fighting for these workers who were wronged by the administration, and in protecting the freedoms of the American people,” read a statement from the unions. “This battle is far from over.”
The ruling covers a number of probationary workers fired by the Trump administration, but another group of workers have their jobs currently protected by a separate ruling, which is making its way to the Supreme Court, as well.
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