Five Federal employee unions filed a lawsuit on Feb. 13 challenging President Donald Trump’s Feb. 11 executive order (EO) calling for “large scale” reductions-in-force (RIF) and the administration’s “deferred resignation” program.
The unions claim Trump’s “workforce optimization initiative” executive order and “deferred resignation” program are illegal, saying they violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and separation of powers principles.
“The mass firing of hundreds of thousands of employees and the coercive effort to get a similar number of Federal employees to resign, collectively, were aimed at decimating the Federal civilian workforce,” the lawsuit reads.
The plaintiffs in the suit include the National Treasury Employees Union; the National Federation of Federal Employees; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers; and the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Workers of America.
The suit describes the “deferred resignation” program as “bullying of Federal workers to quit their jobs.” The report highlights communication from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) cautioning employees of significant downsizing in its resignation request.
The suit said purposes for implementing RIFs include lack of work, shortage of funds, insufficient personnel ceiling, reorganization, the exercise of reemployment rights or restoration rights, or reclassification of an employee’s position due to erosion of duties.
The suit argues that the administration is attempting to implement “large scale” RIFs contrary to the regulations in the APA and OPM’s guidelines on RIFs.
“Agencies will violate the APA because they will commence RIFs for an improper purpose, without a legally cognizable competitive area, and without complying with employee retention requirements,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit argues that Trump’s EO would target employees deemed “nonessential” in the event of a government shutdown instead of considering “tenure and performance” in the implementation of its RIFs.
The EO gives the agency heads 30 days to submit reorganization plans to the White House, including all eliminated or consolidated subcomponents in respective agencies.
The EO also gives the U.S. DOGE service eight months to report on the order’s implementation throughout agencies.
The suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks for a judge to declare the firing of nonessential, probationary, and other employees illegal; enjoin OPM from extending, expanding, or replicating its “deferred resignation” program; and to enjoin the Trump administration from violating RIF statute and regulations.
“Congress creates our federal agencies, assigns their missions and funds their work, including their workforce,” the lawsuit reads. “The Executive Branch’s attempts to decimate that workforce through two targeted actions conflict with Congress’s role in establishing that workforce and its respective portfolio of work.”
