Trump’s federal workforce cuts: A timeline of firings and court reversals

Since they began just over a month ago, the twists and turns of the federal employee firings have been hard to keep straight. Guided by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department Of Government Efficiency aides, President Donald Trump has spent his first five weeks focused on dismantling the federal government, including shutting down the United States Agency for International Development and taking steps to do the same to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Trump has also discussed trying to eliminate the Department of Education. After a buyout offer was accepted by fewer federal employees than expected, tens of thousands of federal workers on probation have already been laid off. These probationary workers include employees in their first year or two on the job, people who have recently moved between federal agencies and people who were recently promoted. The firings have affected all 50 states and include employees at agencies that Americans frequently interact with including the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Internal Revenue Service, National Institutes of Health and many others. And they have continued as the weeks pass. The White House has not responded to repeated requests from USA TODAY for a precise number of fired employees. The firings are expected to shift next month to include workers not in a probationary period.

Jan. 20: Trump signs executive order changing job classifications

Among his first actions as president, Trump signed an executive order that revives a policy from the final days of his first administration known as Schedule F. The directive creates a new employment classification for tens of thousands of nonpartisan career civil servants, effectively stripping them of job protections by reclassifying them as at-will positions, meaning they can be dismissed for nearly any reason. A separate executive order froze hiring of federal civilian employees in the executive branch. It states that any federal civilian position vacant when Trump took office may not be filled, and no new position may be created with rare exceptions.

Jan. 28: Buyout offer made to federal employees

Trump’s administration offered buyouts to nearly all 2.3 million federal employees. The offer came in a surprise email that hit inboxes at 6:04 p.m. on Jan. 28 with the subject line: “The Fork in the Road.” In the email the U.S. Office of Personnel Management offered all federal employees eight months of pay and benefits through September if they resigned by Feb. 6. Unions warned workers considering Trump’s offer that there is no guarantee the president can or will stick to it because Congress hasn’t approved funding for federal agencies past March 14.

Jan. 29: Union sues over reclassifying federal employees

Unions representing federal employees sued the Trump administration to block the schedule F executive order, alleging that it aimed to politicize the federal government by stripping federal workers of job protections.

Feb. 4: USAID employees placed on administrative leave

About 10,000 employees of the United States Agency for International Development ‒ two-thirds of whom work overseas across 60 countries ‒ were notified that they will be placed on administrative leave at the end of the week as part of Trump’s move to dismantle the foreign aid agency.

Feb. 5: Government warns of furloughs

The Trump administration warned federal employees that they could be furloughed if they did not accept the buyout offer, according to an email obtained by USA TODAY. The email warned employees that many will be stripped of civil-service protections and suggested there may be loyalty tests for those who remain.

Feb. 6: Boston judge temporarily halts deadline to accept buyout offer

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole issued a temporary restraining order pausing the Trump administration’s deadline to accept the buyout in order to allow time for labor unions to challenge the plan’s legality. The American Federation of Government Employees and two other unions filed the lawsuit arguing that the administration lacks any statutory basis for the “unprecedented offer.” The Trump administration’s lawyers had argued that extending the deadline on the very last day would “markedly disrupt the expectations of the federal workforce, inject tremendous uncertainty into a program that scores of federal employees have already availed themselves of, and hinder the administration’s efforts to reform the federal workforce.” Also on Feb. 6, the administration ordered all federal department and agency heads to produce lists of their lowest-performing employees. The order from OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell also asked departments and agencies to identify potential barriers to ensuring “the ability to swiftly terminate poor performing employees who cannot or will not improve.”

Feb. 7: Trump fires head of the federal agency dedicated to guarding the federal workforce from illegal personnel actions

An aide to Trump fired Hampton Dellinger, who leads the Office of the Special Counsel, on the night of Feb. 7 in a one-sentence email. Dellinger sued, arguing that 1978 federal law creating his position states he can only be removed from his job because of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. Probationary employees largely rely on the Special Counsel to back them when challenging a dismissal through the proper government channels rather than suing.

Feb. 10: Trump fires leaders of two internal boards employees use to protest firings

Within a matter of minutes Trump fired the leaders of two other boards that federal workers can turn to as an avenue to contest their firing. Union challenges to the firings have been rejected because they have not first gone through these boards. Trump fired Merit Systems Protection Board chair Cathy Harris, just before 11 p.m., leaving the board with two members – Raymond Limon, a Democrat whose term expires Saturday, and Henry Kerner, a Republican. A court temporarily reinstated Harris, whose term doesn’t expire until 2028, after she sued. The Merit Systems Protection Board is tasked with protecting federal workers against partisan politics and illegal employment practices. It cannot operate without a quorum. Trump also fired the Federal Labor Relations Authority board chair, Susan Grundmann, three and a half minutes before he fired Cathy Harris. The authority handles certain complaints with federal workers’ labor unions. She’s suing to be reinstated, but for the time being, Trump named Colleen Kiko, a Republican member, as chair, presiding over only one other member, Democrat Anne Wagner. Also on Feb. 10, a court temporarily reinstated Dellinger, who promptly asked the Merit Systems Protection Board to pause the terminations of six probationary employees at six agencies, and reinstate them while he investigated their cases. The Supreme Court has declined to take up the administration’s case while Dellinger’s challenge goes forward.

Feb. 11: Trump signs executive order to make major cuts to federal work force

Trump signed an executive order Feb. 11 that seeks to significantly reduce the size of the government by instructing heads of federal departments and agencies to undertake plans for “large-scale reductions in force.” A White House summary of the order said agency heads were ordered to “coordinate and consult with DOGE to shrink the size of the federal workforce and limit hiring to essential positions.” Under the order, federal agencies aren’t allowed to hire more than one employee for every four employees who depart. It also instructed the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to create new rules to ensure future federal hires are subject to additional conduct standards, such as U.S. citizenship and filing federal tax returns on time.

Feb. 12: Judge allows buyouts to move forward

O’Toole, the Boston-based federal judge, restored Trump’s buyout project, deciding federal employees unions that sued to stop the program lacked standing to bring their challenge and that his court does not have jurisdiction to hear their complaint. In total, about 75,000 federal employees accepted President Donald Trump’s buyout offer. That equaled about 3.3% of the federal government’s 2.3 million workers, coming in below the White House’s projections that 5% to 10% of the workforce would accept. Congress has not yet approved spending for the next year or said spending for buyouts would be included.

Feb. 13: Thousands of probationary employees are fired across the government

Thousands of recently hired federal workers received notice that they had been fired. Probationary workers are easier to fire because they lack the bargaining rights that career employees have to appeal their terminations. Firings were government-wide: from the Department of Education and Small Business Administration to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the agency that oversees the nation’s fleet of nuclear weapons. The firings have continued in the weeks since, including more than 880 probationary employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – which forecasts the nation’s weather and protects ocean species – on Thursday.

Feb. 20: Unions sue over firing probationary employees

A coalition of federal employee unions sued the administration, alleging that officials misused the probationary period to eliminate staff and that the Office of Personnel Management directed federal agencies to use a standardized termination notice falsely claiming performance issues in firing tens of thousands of employees. “OPM, the federal agency charged with implementing this nation’s employment laws, in one fell swoop has perpetrated one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country, telling tens of thousands of workers that they are being fired for performance reasons, when they most certainly were not,” the unions argued in court documents.

Feb. 24: Office of Special Counsel says firing of probationary employees was illegal

Dellinger, who leads the Office of the Special Counsel, said firing probationary employees was illegal because it used boilerplate language blaming their performance rather than specific concerns and asked the Merit Systems Protection Board to decide whether to reinstate six employees while he investigates further. Federal law generally requires 60 days’ notice for a reduction in force (what the federal government calls layoffs) and prohibits probationary employees from being fired for reasons unrelated to performance or conduct.

Feb. 25: Merit Systems Protection Board reinstates some probationary employees

The Merit Systems Protection Board orders six fired federal employees to be rehired at least through April 10, while Dellinger’s office investigates. “I find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each of the six agencies engaged in a prohibited personnel practice,” stated the order. The Office of Special Counsel has said it is considering ways to seek relief for a broader group of federal employees similarly fired in recent weeks.

Feb. 27: California judge blocks firing of probationary employees

Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern California District temporarily blocked the Trump administration from its mass firing of probationary federal employees. Alsup said the mass firings were likely unlawful and ordered the Office of Personnel Management to halt the action, saying the agency acted out of bounds by telling other agencies – including the Education Department, the Small Business Administration and the Energy Department – to fire employees. “OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire or fire any employees, but its own,” Alsup said. The judge did not order the rehiring of anyone who had been terminated.

What is ahead?

The Trump administration has ordered heads of federal departments and agencies to prepare to initiate “large-scale reductions in force” by March 13 as Trump shifts to a more aggressive phase of cutting the federal workforce beyond recently hired or promoted employees. A memo sent by the Personnel Management and Management and Budget offices has also instructed federal departments to eliminate and consolidate duplicative positions, reduce their property footprints and produce reorganization plans for their agencies.