Trump admin vows to follow court order on layoffs, but some cuts may still be imminent

Updated Oct. 17 at 9:01 p.m.

The Trump administration on Friday vowed to comply with a judge’s order to halt any layoffs caught up in a court-ordered pause on such reductions, though it left the door open to cuts of personnel not currently party to the lawsuit. 

Just one agency—the Interior Department—revealed it was planning imminent layoffs, with other agencies saying only that they would comply with the order not to carry out the subset of cuts that are now prohibited. The administration disclosed its layoff plans as part of a federal court-ordered temporary restraining order that blocked it from issuing any new reductions in force. 

Interior Department officials say they plan to “abolish positions” in 68 “competitive areas,” referring to the groupings of workers agencies must create before engaging in RIFs. Interior has around 1,500 competitive areas, according to a list obtained by Government Executive, though the size of each varies. In a subsequent filing Friday evening, Interior said it planned to cut 1,539 employees in those 68 competitive areas with union members protected by the TRO. It did not say how many employees were in competitive areas without protected members, and suggested it could still move forward with layoffs to those staffers imminently. 

The department agreed to pause any layoff notices for workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees or the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the two unions that brought the lawsuit. The plaintiffs on Friday filed an amended complaint seeking to add the the National Federation of Federal Employees, the National Association of Government Employees and the Service Employees International Union to the case to ensure protection for those workers as well. In an emergency an emergency hearing for Friday evening, the judge on the case agreed to expand her order to include those employees. 

The National Treasury Employees union was not added to the case but represents a significant number of employees in the National Park Service, for example, who could be vulnerable to cuts under the existing restraining order. Interior already has draft RIF notification letters for NTEU ready to go out, Government Executive has learned. Management employees or others not part of a bargaining unit could also still face layoffs while the TRO is in place. 

The Trump administration laid off around 4,000 people on Oct. 10 across seven agencies. The cuts followed through on a threat from Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought to inflict pain on the federal workforce as a consequence of the government shutdown. Both Trump and Vought said more layoffs are coming, with notices landing as soon as Friday.

Susan Illston, the San Francisco-based U.S. District Court judge overseeing the case, agreed to expedite the request for agencies to turn over their RIF plans after the plaintiffs in the case disclosed they had received credible information that Interior had scheduled layoffs to occur on Monday, Oct. 20. The cuts were slated to impact thousands of employees, Danielle Leonard, an attorney for the unions and advocacy groups that brought the lawsuit, said in a filing with the court Thursday evening. 

Government Executive reported last month that planning was well underway at Interior for widespread RIFs impacting thousands of workers, and layoff notices were planned for mid-October. Two sources briefed on the plans subsequently confirmed that Oct. 20 was the scheduled deployment date for the layoffs, though that information predated the restraining order. Interior confirmed in its court filing Friday that its layoff plans had “nothing to do with” the shutdown. 

After issuing the restraining order on Wednesday, which blocked the Trump administration from both implementing the RIFs it delivered last week and issuing any new cuts for at least two weeks, Illston initially called for the administration to disclose its layoff plans by 5 p.m. PT, but she moved it up to 11 a.m. at the plaintiffs’ request. She held the emergency hearing later on Friday. 

While nearly three-dozen agencies filed updates to the court vowing to comply with its temporary restraining order, or TRO, only Interior detailed future RIF plans. Those that issued layoffs last week disclosed the following plans to comply with the court’s order: 

• Education Department: Education laid off 465 employees last week and said on Friday it sent sent notices to every impacted worker to let them know their termination was stayed as a result of the TRO. 
• Health and Human Services Department: HHS laid off 982 employees last week. While the department noted some of those had been represented by AFGE, it argued it terminated its collective bargaining agreements with the union in August and therefore could proceed with the RIFs without any concern for the restraining order. In her amended order Friday evening, however, Illston said those employees should be protected under her order. 
• Housing and Urban Development Department: HUD sent RIF notices to 442 employees and said on Friday most of those workers, though not all of them, were represented by AFGE. It vowed to comply with the court's order. 
• Treasury Department: Treasury laid off 1,377 employees last week, though the department’s workforce is largely represented by NTEU. All of its RIFs were in compliance with the TRO, the department said.
• Environmental Protection Agency: EPA sent notices to only a couple dozen employees last week and said it will not proceed with the RIFs while the TRO is in effect.
• Small Business Administration: SBA revealed that it sent layoff notices to 73 employees on Sept. 29, who were all issued RIF notices earlier this year that were subsequently rescinded. Those layoffs are not impacted by the court’s restraining order, SBA said. 

Correction and update: This story has been corrected to accurately note the unions that asked to be added to the case, and updated with new details from the case.