States sue administration over probationary firings
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland and 19 other states are suing multiple federal agencies, contending President Donald Trump’s administration has illegally fired thousands of federal probationary workers.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is leading the coalition of attorneys general in the federal lawsuit that was filed late Thursday in Maryland, where the state estimates about 10% of households receive wages from the federal government.
“The draconian actions of the Trump-Vance Administration could lead to tens of thousands of jobs lost, hundreds of thousands of lives disrupted, and the cratering of tens of millions of dollars in income here in Maryland,” Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said Friday in support of the complaint.
The other states that have joined the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
The District of Columbia also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Brown followed up on Friday by moving for a temporary restraining order in federal court in Maryland seeking to stop any more firings of federal probationary employees and to reinstate those who have already been dismissed.
The mass firings will cause irreparable burdens and expenses on the states, the lawsuit said, because states will have to support recently unemployed workers and review and adjudicate claims of unemployment assistance. More than 800 fired federal workers in Maryland already have applied for unemployment benefits, Brown’s office said.
Trump, a Republican, has said he’s targeting fraud, waste and abuse in a bloated federal government. The president and his adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have fired both new and career workers, telling agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force.” The purge has spawned a number of lawsuits as unions and attorneys general have challenged Doge’s authority. Attempts to contact the White House and Justice Department for comment were unsuccessful.
Probationary workers have been targeted for layoffs across the federal government because they’re usually new to the job and lack full civil service protection.