US Education Department must reinstate nearly 1400 fired workers

Reinstatement of employees challenges Trump's plan to downsize the Education Department. Photo / Getty Images

A federal judge today ordered the reinstatement of nearly 1400 fired federal workers at the Education Department, delivering a major setback for President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the agency.

US District Judge Myong J. Joun issued a preliminary injunction that compels the department to immediately bring back workers who were laid off on or after January 20 as part of the reduction-in-force announced March 11.

Joun said the states, school districts, labour unions and nonprofits that sued to block the massive downsizing have shown the department is incapable of carrying out its duties with a skeleton staff. The agency dropped from 4133 employees on the first day of the Trump administration to fewer than 2200.

“A department without enough employees to perform statutorily mandated functions is not a department at all,” Joun wrote in his order. “This court cannot be asked to cover its eyes while the department’s employees are continuously fired and units are transferred out until the department becomes a shell of itself.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon has overseen the gutting of the department, closing regional offices, consolidating staff and cutting the agency’s workforce by about half. But Joun said the secretary lacks the authority to make these wholesale changes without congressional approval, and the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of that claim.

Joun also agreed that the coalition of states, school districts and unions – who filed separate lawsuits that have been consolidated – are likely to suffer irreparable harm as the cuts result in financial uncertainty, impeded access to vital knowledge and the loss of essential services provided by the Office of Federal Student Aid and the Office for Civil Rights. Department employees, university leaders, state education agencies, union members and educators provided testimony in support of the coalition.

“This decision is a first step to reverse this war on knowledge and the undermining of broad-based opportunity,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the groups suing the department. “For America to build a brighter future, we must all take more responsibility, not less, for the success of our children.”

The Education Department denounced Joun’s ruling, saying it was not in the best interest of American students and families. The agency plans to challenge the order on an emergency basis.

“Once again, a far-left judge has dramatically overstepped his authority, based on a complaint from biased plaintiffs, and issued an injunction against the obviously lawful efforts to make the Department of Education more efficient and functional for the American people,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the department, said in an email. “President Trump and the Senate-confirmed Secretary of Education clearly have the authority to make decisions about agency reorganisation efforts, not an unelected Judge with a political ax to grind.”

The ruling directs the Education Department to file status reports on their progress complying with the order within 72 hours and weekly after that until the department is restored to “the status quo prior to January 20, 2025”.

Sheria Smith, president of AFGE Local 252, which represents Education Department employees, welcomed the order. Smith, an attorney in the Office for Civil Rights who was herself laid off, said she expects all impacted members to have their jobs restored.

“Today’s order illustrates that the work our members performed was critical to states, school districts, students, and our fellow citizens – despite this administration’s statements to the contrary,” she said in a statement.

The ruling arrives a day after the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators released a national survey of members who said the staff cuts at the department have led to breakdowns that could affect the processing of aid this year. About 59% of the 909 financial aid offices surveyed reported delays in processing timelines and responsiveness since the layoffs. Hundreds of staff in the Office of Federal Student Aid, which is responsible for administering student loans and Pell grants, have been let go.

In April, college and university financial aid officers reported they were experiencing disruptions that slowed their ability to calculate financial aid offers and get timely answers from the department about everything from adding academic programs to remaining eligible to receive federal aid, the Post found.

“This is a huge rebuke and powerful ruling for all of us, but in some ways a lot of the damage has been done,” said Rachel Gittleman, who worked in Federal Student Aid’s ombudsman office before the cuts. “Even if we go back, will we be able to do the work we were doing?”

Gittleman, who helped pull together employee declarations in the states’ case, said many of her colleagues have been traumatised by the experience and worry about returning to a hostile work environment only to be let go again.

One attorney at the agency’s Office for Civil Rights who was laid off said she looks forward to returning to her job and hopefully resuming work on cases that she was forced to abruptly abandon.

“I think many of us will go back in the hopes that we will be able to be reassigned to the cases that we already have and we hope to be able to continue working on and get some resolution for people,” said the attorney, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “We want to do the work that Congress directed us to do.”

She and others are currently on administrative leave until mid-June, when their positions were scheduled to be officially terminated.