Judge bars Education Department from carrying out mass layoffs

Updated May 22 at 12:40 p.m.

The Education Department must retain the roughly 1,300 employees it previously laid off after a federal judge on Thursday called the dismissals unlawful and said the Trump administration must receive congressional approval to shut down the agency. 

President Trump, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and other administration officials have repeatedly stated they plan to eliminate the department and in March took its first significant step to that end by implementing widespread reductions in force. Those RIFs, Judge Myong Joun of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts said, have made it “effectively impossible” for Education to carry out its legally required responsibilities. 

“Defendants argue that the RIF was implemented to improve ‘efficiency’ and ‘accountability’ in the department,” Joun said in issuing his preliminary injunction. “The record abundantly reveals that defendants’ true intention is to effectively dismantle the department without an authorizing statute.” 

As a result of the injunction, the Trump administration cannot carry out the March RIFs and must reinstate impacted employees “to restore the department to the status quo such that it is able to carry out its statutory functions.” It must provide updates to the court every week until the status quo in place prior to Jan. 20 is restored. Education is barred from carrying out Trump’s executive order to transfer functions out of the department. 

Those impacted by the layoffs were given until June 10 before they would be officially terminated, meaning they largely remain on the payroll on administrative leave. The RIFs impacted about one-third of Education's 4,133 employees, though incentive programs have led to an overall staffing reduction of 50%. 

The injunction is preliminary in nature, meaning a hearing on the full merits of the case is still forthcoming. Joun’s order will remain in effect until a final determination is issued, or a higher court overrules him should the administration appeal. 

The order resulted from combined lawsuits brought by 20 states, as well as a collection of public school districts, unions and advocacy groups. Joun found the plaintiffs demonstrated the department’s dismantling would negatively impact the states and “students, parents, teachers and core education programs.” 

"Today, the court rightly rejected one of the administration’s very first illegal, and consequential, acts: abolishing the federal role in education," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which helped bring the case. "This decision is a first step to reverse this war on knowledge and the undermining of broad-based opportunity."

Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, which represented AFT and other unions in the case, also celebrated the decision. 

"“Today’s order means that the Trump administration’s disastrous mass firings of career civil servants are blocked while this wildly disruptive and unlawful agency action is litigated,” Perryman said. “No one’s lives are being made better by this administration’s attempted dismantling of the Department of Education."

Democrats in Congress have derided the Trump administration for pausing Education grants and otherwise delaying payments to state and local governments. The department was created by Congress in 1979 and Joun found efforts to unwind that action must similarly involve legislative action. The Trump administration conceded that point and said its legislative efforts to end the department were distinct from its efforts to improve efficiency at the agency, but Joun rejected that argument. 

“There is nothing in the record to support these contradictory positions,” the judge said, adding there was “no evidence” the layoffs made Education more efficient and in fact “the record is replete with evidence of the opposite.” 

A separate order from a federal judge in California has temporarily paused the Trump administration from carrying out any RIF actions, though that order is set to expire Friday. 

On Wednesday, McMahon reiterated to lawmakers her intention to eliminate her department and said she was embarking on its “final mission.” She noted Education had already recalled some employees who received RIF notices because their work was subsequently deemed essential. 

This story has been updated with additional comment.