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Press Release:

TRO to Stop Mass Fir­ings and Seek Rein­state­ment of Fed­er­al Pro­ba­tion­ary Employ­ees

Preceding Event:

As part of an effort to reduce the size of the fed­er­al work­force, the Office of Per­son­nel Man­age­ment (OPM) direct­ed fed­er­al agen­cies to con­duct mass ter­mi­na­tions of pro­ba­tion­ary employ­ees. Accord­ing to the law­suit, fed­er­al statutes and pro­ce­dures have reg­u­la­tions that require fed­er­al agen­cies to pro­vide 60 days of advance notice to affect­ed employ­ees and states when con­duct­ing reduc­tions in force.

The plain­tiffs argued in the law­suit that the OPM did this reduc­tion sud­den­ly and with­out any advanced notice, ignor­ing this 60 day require­ment. The agen­cies that were giv­en these orders by the OPM fol­lowed through on the direc­tive, fir­ing employ­ees by the hun­dreds and thou­sands.

General Overview:

Accord­ing to the press release from March 7, 2025, “Attor­ney Gen­er­al William Tong, along­side a coali­tion of 20 attor­neys gen­er­al, moved for a tem­po­rary restrain­ing order for numer­ous fed­er­al agen­cies, ask­ing that a fed­er­al court order them to cease the ille­gal mass lay­offs of fed­er­al pro­ba­tion­ary employ­ees, and to rein­state those who have been fired.”

Tong and the oth­er attor­neys gen­er­al con­sid­ered these lay­offs ille­gal and said that they are caus­ing irrepara­ble harm to Con­necti­cut and the oth­er states involved in the coali­tion. In the press release, Tong says the lay­offs “are strain­ing state resources to sup­port recent­ly unem­ployed work­ers, and to review and adju­di­cate claims of unem­ploy­ment assis­tance. More­over, the unlaw­ful lay­offs will harm state finances and under­mine vital state-fed­er­al partnerships…In today’s motion, Attor­ney Gen­er­al Tong is seek­ing an imme­di­ate rul­ing by the Court to: rein­state unlaw­ful­ly fired employ­ees, stop fur­ther sim­i­lar ter­mi­na­tions, and iden­ti­fy affect­ed employ­ees.”

Date of filing:

March 6, 2025

Case #:

1:25-cv-00748

Case title:

State of Mary­land et al v. Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture et al

**Plaintiffs: 20 states and D.C.

• STATE OF MARYLAND,
• STATE OF MINNESOTA,
• THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
• THE STATE OF ARIZONA,
• THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
• THE STATE OF COLORADO
• THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT,
• THE STATE OF DELAWARE
• THE STATE OF HAWAI’I
• THE STATE OF ILLIINOIS
• THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,
• PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
• THE STATE OF NEVADA,
• THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
• THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO,
• THE STATE OF NEW YORK,
• THE STATE OF OREGON,
• THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND,
• THE STATE OF VERMONT,
• THE STATE OF WISCONSIN

Defendants:

• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
• BROOKE ROLLINS, in her offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Agri­cul­ture
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,
• HOWARD LUTNICK, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Com­merce,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE,
• PETER HEGSETH, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Defense,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,
• LINDA MCMAHON, in her Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Edu­ca­tion,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY,
• CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Ener­gy,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,
• ROBERTF. KENNEDY, JR., in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Health and Human Ser­vices,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY,
• KRISTI NOEM, in her Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Home­land Secu­ri­ty,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT,
• SCOTT TURNER, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of Hous­ing and Urban Devel­op­ment,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR,
• DOUGLAS BURGUM, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of the Inte­ri­or,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION,
• SEANDUFFY, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of the Trans­porta­tion,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY,
• COTT BESSENT, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of the Trea­sury,
• UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS,
• DOUGLAS COLLINS, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of the Vet­er­ans Affairs,
• CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU,
• RUSSELL VOUGHT, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Act­ing Direc­tor of the Con­sumer Finan­cial Pro­tec­tion Bureau,
• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
• LEE ZELDIN, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Admin­is­tra­tor of the Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency,
• FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION,
• TRAVIS HILL, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Act­ing Chair­man of the Fed­er­al Deposit Insur­ance Cor­po­ra­tion,
• GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION,
• STEPHEN EHIKIAN, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Act­ing Admin­is­tra­tor of the Gen­er­al Ser­vices Admin­is­tra­tion,
• NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION,
• OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
• CHARLES EZELL, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Act­ing Direc­tor of the Office of Per­son­nel Man­age­ment
• SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION,
• KELLY LOEFLER, in her Offi­cial Capac­i­ty as Admin­is­tra­tor of the Small Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion,
• UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• MARCO RUBIO, in his Offi­cial Capac­i­ties as Act­ing Admin­is­tra­tor of the Unit­ed States Agency for Inter­na­tion­al Devel­op­ment and Archivist for the Nation­al Archives and Records Admin­is­tra­tion,

Court:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

Status as of Dec. 1, 2025:

CLOSED — Ter­mi­nat­ed on Oct. 31, 2025

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