Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—Unions file emergency motion seeking to block shutdown-related mass firings of federal workers, (Oct 6, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Altshuler Berzon, LLP | American Federation of Government Employees | Office of Personnel Management
By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.
“[E]ven before the shutdown began, the Administration announced its plan to engage in mass terminations of federal employees—not temporary furloughs, but permanent reductions-in-force (‘RIFs’)—during the shutdown.”
Over the weekend, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) filed a motion with a federal court in California for a temporary restraining order (TRO), seeking to block the Trump administration's threatened imminent mass firings of federal workers. The motion follows the lawsuit filed by the unions last week as the shutdown loomed.
In the lawsuit, the unions allege that the Office of Management and Budget violated the law by directing that federal agencies conduct mass firings of federal workers during the shutdown. It also alleges that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its Director Scott Kupor issued unlawful and unprecedented instructions that federal employees may perform work during the federal government shutdown in order to carry out the reductions. The unions contend that the administration’s plan to fire federal employees during a shutdown is unprecedented and is an unlawful abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress.
Violate APA, not authorized constitutionally. In their motion, the unions argue that they are likely to succeed on the merits because the OPM Lapse Memorandum, OPM Guidance, and decisions to engage in and prepare for imminent RIFs are contrary to and exceed any legal authority, are therefore ultra vires, as well as arbitrary and capricious, and violate the APA. They also argue that those actions represent final agency actions for the purposes of the APA and that Article II constitutional supervisory authority to take care laws are faithfully executed does not authorize using a government shutdown to justify RIFs contrary to statute.
“The Trump administration’s threats to potentially fire tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress has failed to do their jobs and fund the government, is not only illegal—it’s just plain wrong,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “Federal employees—a third of whom are veterans—are dedicated to serving our communities. Mass illegal firings will not only harm federal workers and their families, but will devastate vital services that the American people depend on.”
“The law plainly does not permit this Administration’s scheme to order mass firings across the federal government for their own political advantage, including by illegally keeping federal employees working during a government shutdown to carry out the firing of their fellow employees. This Administration must obey the law, and the Plaintiffs have moved for emergency relief to hold it accountable,” said Robin Tholin of Altshuler Berzon LLP, which, along with Democracy Forward and the Democracy Defenders Fund, represents AFGE and AFSCME in this lawsuit.
The case is No. 3:25-cv-08302-VC.
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