More setback for Trump! Court blocks massive layoffs of employees

San Francisco: Serving more setbacks to American President Donald Trump and his administration, a California court temporarily blocked his order to the US Department of Defences and other federal agencies to fire thousands of recently hired employees.

Federal District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco said during a hearing that the US Office of Personnel Management does not have the power to order federal agencies to fire any workers, including probationary employees who typically have less than a year of experience, Reuters reported.

The Republican President Donald Trump, as well as his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk, are running a drive to shrink the federal bureaucracy, which includes rampant job cuts, in a bid to save government’s expenditure. The move, however, received severe objection from Democrats, unions and federal workers, arguing that such job cuts would compromise government functions.

Trump had backed Musk’s proposal and goal of reducing America’s $6.7 trillion budget by $1 trillion. However, experts opine that Musk could not achieve the target just by such layoffs, but he would have to slash government programmes, including benefits.

Reuters learned from sources that hundreds of probationary workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which conducts climate science, were notified on Thursday that they were laid off. However, officials at NOAA are yet to comment.

Also, in the Internal Revenue Service, 60 employees working on modernization efforts are apparently facing an immediate layoff.

Also, the chief of the Internal Revenue Service, David Padrino, informed his team that he is going to resign effective a week from Friday, while IRS executives are told that they must expect a drastic cut in headcount in the coming weeks. The federal human resource agency, OPM, instructed at least two dozen employees who are working remotely to relocate to Washington if they need their jobs.