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Labor unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal employees have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawfully threatening mass layoffs as part of the government shutdown that began Wednesday, according to Axios.
The legal action targets both the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), led by Director Russ Vought, and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), under Director Scott Kupor.
The unions argue that the administration’s push for widespread layoffs, outlined in a directive urging agencies to issue Reduction in Force (RIF) notices, is politically motivated and legally unsound.
The complaint describes the OMB memo as a partisan tactic designed to pressure Congress and punish government workers, noting it even included pop-up messages on federal websites blaming Democrats for the funding impasse.
The shutdown began after the Senate failed to approve a budget measure, with no resolution in sight. As agencies move to identify which workers are “excepted” from furlough, updated guidance cited in the lawsuit permits staffing to carry out the RIF process — something the unions claim violates federal law.
Filed just before the funding deadline, the case is now in the hands of U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. Union leaders and advocates say the administration is treating public servants as political pawns and are seeking a court order to block the implementation of the OMB directive.
With President Trump warning of potential layoffs for “a lot” of federal workers, the legal battle adds a new layer of tension to an already chaotic shutdown that has left government operations in limbo.
