Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—AFGE asks court to compel or hold OPM in contempt for failing to follow orders regarding reinstating federal workers, (Mar 27, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

The plaintiffs assert that the government defendants’ “noncompliance is established in their own reporting to this Court,” citing multiple docket entries.

Yesterday, AFGE and the other plaintiffs who are pursuing claims against OPM before Judge Alsup in the Northern District of California, asked the court to take further action to ensure the federal defendants’ compliance with the court’s previous order that fired federal probationary employees be reinstated. Alternatively, they asked the court to hold the defendants in contempt.

Specifically, they contend that the defendants violated the March 13, 2025, preliminary injunction issued by the court by “(1) by failing to communicate to unlawfully terminated employees the information ordered by the Court, and (2) by placing employees whom the Court ordered to be immediately reinstated only on “administrative leave” rather than returning them to active service.” They contend that this “noncompliance is established by” the defendants’ own reporting to the court.

Also yesterday, a motion for a preliminary injunction was filed by the plaintiffs seeking an order that the relief awarded previously to the organizational plaintiffs also be extended to the State of Washington, which joined the suit and is also suffering harm based on the mass termination of probationary federal employees.

The case is No. 3:25-cv -01780-WHA.

News: LitigationNewsTrends DOGE FedTracker LaborEmployment AgencyNews RemediesDamages Layoffs Discharge PublicEmployees