WASHINGTON, DC – A US judge on Thursday (Friday in Manila) denied a union bid to temporarily halt the firing of thousands of federal employees on probationary status, handing President Donald Trump another legal win in his plan to slash the government workforce.
District Judge Christopher Cooper said he lacked the jurisdiction to handle the complaint, one of several filed in courts in recent days in an effort to pause the mass sackings.
The judge’s decision comes as around 6,700 workers at the 100,000-strong Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who were on probation were being laid off.
“The anxiety was running through the floor, like I personally felt anxious because I was one of (the) last people to get that email,” an IRS probationary worker who was laid off Thursday told AFP.
A former IRS official said most of the IRS employees being let go were part of the US tax agency’s enforcement teams, less than two months before the US income tax filing deadline of April 15.
A number of IRS employees posted messages on LinkedIn saying they had been abruptly terminated and were seeking other opportunities.
The National Treasury Employees Union and four other unions that represent federal employees had asked Cooper to issue a temporary restraining order preventing termination of their members who are probationary employees.
Cooper, an appointee of former president Barack Obama, said his court lacks jurisdiction to hear their claims and they should instead be brought before the Federal Labor Relations Authority, a body that adjudicates federal labor disputes.
