US Judge Halts Trump's Call for Mass Firings of Federal Workers

He says agency that triggered shedding of thousands of jobs lacks power to do so

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SAN FRANCISCO - A California federal judge on Feb. 27 temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ordering the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal agencies to carry out the mass firings of thousands of recently hired employees.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco said during a hearing that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) lacked the power to order federal agencies to fire any workers, including probationary employees who typically have less than a year of experience.

Republican President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who oversees the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, are spearheading an unprecedented effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy, including through job cuts.

Those efforts have resulted in a fierce pushback from Democrats, unions, and federal workers, who argue the job cuts are illegal and could compromise government functions.

Already, the administration has been forced to recall some personnel in critical roles. But Mr. Trump has backed Mr. Musk to the hilt, and has embraced Mr. Musk's goal of slicing US$1 trillion (S$1.3 trillion) from the nation's US$6.7 trillion budget.

Budget experts say Mr. Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is unlikely to reach his target by trimming jobs and reducing waste and fraud, and may have to slash government programs, including benefits.

On Feb. 27, hundreds of probationary workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which conducts climate science, were notified they were being let go, according to a source familiar with the situation.