- Office of the Attorney General
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Sabrina Zafar , Deputy Press Secretary
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and a coalition of 19 other attorneys general have secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) by the U.S. District Court of Maryland, temporarily reinstating thousands of federal probationary workers who were illegally fired by the Trump Administration during mass layoffs. Under the order, probationary employees of several federal agencies must be reinstated to their roles by 1PM EST on Monday, March 17, 2025.
Last week, AG Campbell joined the coalition of attorneys general in filing a lawsuit and a motion for a TRO to stop the Administration’s unlawful mass firings and reinstate those who had been fired. The coalition now seeks a preliminary injunction to halt the mass firings and reinstate fired workers while the lawsuit proceeds and until a final court decision is made.
“I am grateful for the court’s order, which reinstates thousands of federal jobs for Massachusetts workers, including those who provide critical services that enable our state to function and thrive,” said AG Campbell. “As our lawsuit proceeds, I will continue to stand up for our workers, protecting them from reckless actions that threaten both their rights and our state’s public resources.”
Federal probationary employees in Massachusetts who were illegally fired include employees of the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Interior, Transportation, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs.
The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that when conducting the mass firings, the Trump Administration failed to follow federal laws and regulations that govern large-scale federal “Reductions in Force” (RIF), which offer critical protections to federal workers, including ensuring that personnel such as military veterans are given preference in retaining their jobs. In the lawsuit, the coalition also asserts that the mass firings, which were done without notification to the states, will cause irreparable harm to the states, including burdening the states’ unemployment resources, harming state finances, and undermining vital state-federal partnerships.
In an effort to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government, the Trump Administration initiated mass terminations of federal employees, ordering numerous federal agencies to fire thousands of probationary employees. These personnel are newly hired or have recently been promoted or changed offices, and they are generally subject to a probationary period of one or two years. While termination letters sent by federal agencies, typically in the form of a standard template, claimed that the probationary employees were fired due to inadequate performance, the coalition asserts that the firings were not based on any individualized findings and were clearly part of the administration’s attempt to restructure and downsize the entire federal government.
When a RIF results in a layoff of 50 or more employees in a particular area, the agency must generally give at least 60 days’ advance notice to states governments, so they can provide vital “rapid response” information, resources, and services to affected workers. The federal agencies named in the lawsuit failed to provide any advance notice to Massachusetts and the coalition states, causing significant expense and burden on the state as it scrambles to respond to the sudden mass layoffs of its residents. Terminated federal employees in Massachusetts have already applied to the state for unemployment benefits.
Joining AG Campbell in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Maryland, Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‛i, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
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