Your guide to the lawsuits affecting federal employees

Five bullet points — *for* you, not from you

Dear civil servant,

That trauma they said they wanted to cause you? It would only be natural if you're feeling that at this point. You can’t escape thinking about your current or former federal job. But you are also trying to figure out what comes next or settle into a new position. You may feel the pounding of each news story about the dismantling of a program you helped build or a country you helped defend, and at the same time you may feel the pressure to carry on as if everything is normal.

And with all the litigation over federal employees’ rights and the dismantling of our government, it likely has been hard to keep up with the courts. Which is why in this letter, we are offering a five bullet-point summary of recent decisions by the courts and adjudicators that affect the civil service. (If Elon gets to have his “five bullet points,” you deserve to have some, too).

But first, some resources.

New resources:

• DC’s Public Service Career Hub. Helps former civil servants find new employment within the district.

• Fairfax County (VA) Federal Workforce Resource Hub. Information on employment, healthcare, financial help, mental health, support for veterans, community involvement, and reaching out to elected representatives, among other topics.

• @fednews.bsky.social shares news stories that affect civil servants.

• Resources for researchers and scholars under threat in the United States: The National Academies offer a repository of resources for academics to respond to targeted attacks.

• New information about class action appeals at the MSPB challenging the mass terminations of probationary and trial employees. Thus far, class action appeals have been filed for employees at the FDIC, Dept. of Interior, USDA, VA, DHS, and EPA, with more to come — likely including Treasury and DoT.

• Updated FAQ on probationary and trial period mass terminations. From Civil Service Strong.

• Understanding impoundments. Resources that explain why the presidential impoundment of federal funds is unlawful, why courts can step in to remedy impoundments, and how to track apportionments in real time.

• Sign up to contribute an oral history of your experience as a federal worker during this period. The Organization of American Historians, the largest professional society dedicated to United States history, is working with former FDA historian, Dr. Jason Chernesky, to create an oral history documenting the experiences of federal workers during this difficult period.

• Notes on the Crises. Provides comprehensive reporting on the administration’s attempts to access sensitive information through the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems, and requests for information about how some of these systems work.

• Useful trackers:

  • CNN provides updates on the state of play in federal agencies, including “the percentage of workers impacted at select agencies, reactions from fired workers and more context about the size of the federal workforce across all 50 states.”

  • Just Security tracks legal challenges to Trump Administration actions.

  • The New York Times tracker includes a specific section on “Civil Servant Firings” with updated information on the status of legal challenges.

  • UCSD helpfully tracks the different trackers.

• Pre-Trump CDC website now available. Archivists recreated the Pre-Trump CDC website, and are choosing to host it in Europe.

What did courts and adjudicators do the past two weeks?

Even as judges face threats to their lives and their courthouses, and agency adjudicators themselves navigate ongoing threats to their independence, they remain busy adjudicating the rights of federal employees.

The relevant cases are traveling through the courts at different speeds. Keeping up can feel impossible. (Though we find Nick Bednar’s Bluesky account indispensable in this regard.)

To help, we offer five bullet points describing what the judiciary and agency adjudicators accomplished over the past two weeks as it relates to federal workers:

• Paused DOGE access to federal employees’ sensitive data: On February 24, a federal district judge in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order directing the Department of Education and OPM to stop accessing federal workers’ sensitive and personal data information. You can learn more about Protect Democracy’s efforts to stop illegal disclosure of personal information here.

• Temporarily reinstated six probationary employees: On February 25, the Merit System Protection Board (MSPB), an administrative tribunal within the executive branch, paused the firing of six former probationary employees, ordering them reinstated for 45 days so the Office of Special Counsel (OSC, also within the executive branch) can investigate whether their terminations were lawful. At the time, the head of OSC was Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger. On March 5, judges on the D.C. Circuit allowed the president’s termination of the Special Counsel to go forward at least temporarily and Dellinger subsequently announced that he will drop the legal challenge to his termination. The new Special Counsel appears to be VA Secretary Doug Collins — a move that the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) says raises serious conflict concerns and is likely to chill whistleblowing at the VA.

• Temporarily restricted OPM’s power to terminate employees: On February 28, a federal district judge in California issued a temporary restraining order, holding that “OPM’s January 20 memo [directing agency heads to make a list of probationary employees and to identify which should be retained], February 14 email [ordering agencies to terminate probationary employees], and all other efforts by OPM to direct the termination of employees at NPS, BLM, VA, DOD, SBA, and FWS are unlawful, invalid, and must be stopped and rescinded.” The order technically only holds OPM’s actions unlawful, and following the decision, OPM backtracked on its directive concerning probationary employees. The National Science Foundation and USDA have subsequently begun reinstating fired probationary employees. Temporary restraining orders are indeed temporary, and the judge has set an evidentiary hearing for March 13.

• Reinstated fired merit systems protection board member: On March 4, a federal district judge in D.C. held that the president’s firing of MSPB member Cathy Harris without the statutorily-required cause violated federal law. The district judge had already issued a temporary restraining order that had effectively reinstated Harris, and the new order made the reinstatement more permanent. The judge prohibited administration officials from firing Harris unless the firing is “for cause,” as is required under law. The Department of Justice will appeal. The MSPB typically has three board members; it must have two Senate-confirmed members present to have a quorum that allows it to operate normally. One member announced his retirement on February 28. If Harris’s termination is allowed to proceed, the MSPB will lack a quorum, although there are some actions it can take in an “inquorate” state. Because the MSPB is the body that hears federal employees’ claims that their employment rights have not been respected, its full operation is critical to federal employees being able to challenge many adverse employment actions.

• Temporarily reinstated nearly 6,000 probationary employees at USDA : On March 5, the MSPB paused the firing of nearly 6,000 USDA employees, ordering them reinstated for 45 days while OSC investigates whether the terminations were lawful.

Blast radius and pushback

In our last Dear Civil Servant, we detailed how federal firings and funding freezes harm you, your family, and your state, identifying this as the “blast radius” of the federal government’s implosion. In the past week, the administration’s actions have continued to imperil people in the U.S. and abroad, including teachers, small businesses, potential organ transplant recipients, scientists, veterans, farmers, the elderly, and countless others.

You can track the devastating effect of the PEPFAR funding freeze here. You can find a tabulation of the number of lost jobs — and what to do about it — here.

In the face of these collective losses, it is hard not to lose hope. But we are inspired by the daily actions that people are taking in support of our Constitution and the rule of law.

Constituents are objecting to the unlawful and harmful firings and funding cuts at town halls and public meetings across California, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas (the video is really worth watching!), Maryland, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wisconsin, among other places. Constituent voices have been so impactful that the National Republican Congressional Committee has instructed members to cancel in-person town halls.

Even the Republican and independent leadership in the Alaska state legislature are emphatically urging the state’s U.S. senators to stand up for their constituents. And don’t forget about the local news stations heroically reporting these stories of resilience, protest, and outrage. One of the biggest types of “wins” is when the administration itself changes how it acts without a court order or politician forcing it to do so, and that is also happening — reckless and arbitrary layoffs have resulted in the administration backpedalling on its decisions and having to rehire critical workers.

Every one of you who shares your story, attends a town hall, calls your representative, or engages in peaceful protest is standing up to the assault on our Constitution. Citizens across our nation stand in solidarity with you and recognize the value of your work.

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What we’re reading:

• Hamilton Nolan, They are a minority: Get your mind right.

• Lux Alptraum, What Abuse Survivors Can Teach Us About Trump 2.0 (December 2024)

• Dan Sinker, What Felt Impossible Became Possible

• Benjamin Wittes, The Situation: I’m Done Cooperating

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This publication should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general information and educational purposes only, and should not be relied on as if it were advice about a particular fact situation. The distribution of this publication is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship with Protect Democracy. This publication also contains hypertext links to information created and maintained by other entities. Protect Democracy does not control or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this outside information, nor is the inclusion of a link to be intended as an endorsement of those outside sites.