Maryland attorney general sues to get fired federal workers reinstated

The Trump administration broke the law when it fired thousands of probationary federal employees without warning, according to a new lawsuit led by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown that seeks to reinstate those jobs.

The lawsuit marks the first time Brown has taken the lead on a case against the Trump administration and arrives amid reports that thousands of Marylanders have lost their jobs or are expected to lose their jobs soon because of federal actions.

Given the large percentage of federal jobs located in Maryland and an anticipated economic blow caused by mass layoffs, Brown said, “It made sense that Maryland step up.”

The complaint asks a federal judge to rule that the mass firing of probationary federal employees is illegal, to reinstate workers who were unlawfully fired, and to halt similar firings.

Brown said he’s hoping for immediate relief for federal workers, which includes them getting their jobs back, but the timetable for resolving the clash lies with the courts. A variety of temporary restraining orders and injunctions have been issued within days of similar filings.

“We’re hopeful,” he said, “and we think we’ve made convincing arguments that the judge can issue an order providing temporary relief.”

Nineteen other state attorneys general have joined in the lawsuit, which is among more than 100 that have been filed in response to President Donald Trump’s rapid and sweeping moves since taking office in January.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the suit.

Trump has tasked billionaire businessman Elon Musk with culling the federal workforce and shrinking the country’s government. A federal judge said last week that the mass firings of probationary employees are likely unlawful and ordered a pause. But that ruling only applied to six agencies whose employees signed onto the suit.

The following morning, employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which was not one of the named agencies, were let go.

Brown said the Trump administration has remained “committed to decimating the federal workforce, dismantling federal government” since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. He said he expects the administration will continue to push their agenda in ways not fenced off by current court orders.

The new lawsuit from state attorneys general covers a broader group of federal agencies, including the Department of Education, Department of Transportation and Department of Health and Human Services, among others.

The lawsuit argues that the Trump administration broke federal laws that govern large-scale reductions in the federal workforce. While federal agencies claimed in termination letters that the probationary employees were fired for unsatisfactory performance, the suit argues that the firings are part of a larger effort to restructure and downsize the federal government, triggering job protections that should have been followed.

Those protections help ensure that employees like military veterans are given preference in retaining jobs. They also require that federal agencies give state governments 60 days’ notice of layoffs affecting 50 or more employees, another step the lawsuit says was ignored.

As a result, states like Maryland that are home to many federal workers were left blindsided and scrambling to help laid-off employees, according to the lawsuit. Over 800 terminated federal employees have filed for unemployment benefits in Maryland, lawyers wrote.

Moore said in a statement that he backed Brown’s attempt to thwart the firings, especially as the state faces its steepest budget crisis in two decades.

“We cannot retreat from our principles, and we cannot afford to let these actions stand,” Moore said.

Brown has come under scrutiny for spending state resources to staff up a federal litigation team focused on combating harms caused by the Trump administration. But said he’s sticking with his commitment to watch out for Marylanders.

“I would not join an action where I could not sit down with any family in Maryland and have a lay person discussion about how my action is related to the issues that I think they’re talking about at their kitchen table,” he said.

The Maryland Department of Labor has seen a swell in unemployment claims from former federal employees, with 30 to 60 new claims from these workers coming in each day, according to the lawsuit. And because some federal agencies have claimed the firings were for cause or cited other reasons that might disqualify a worker for unemployment, the department also must investigate the claims and use up even more resources, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Maryland to issue temporary relief reinstating any probationary federal employees who have been fired as part of mass terminations since Jan. 20 and preventing additional firings without an individualized assessment of an employee’s performance.