Judge halts Trump administration from firing federal workers during shutdown
FILE-An exterior view of the U.S. Capitol on October 23, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)
A federal judge has indefinitely stopped the Trump administration from firing federal workers amid the ongoing government shutdown.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston granted a preliminary injunction that banned the layoffs while a lawsuit filed by the federal employee unions challenging the layoffs is pending.
During a Tuesday hearing in San Francisco, Illston banned almost 40 federal agencies from conducting layoffs.
RELATED: Hundreds of CDC workers reinstated after being fired amid government shutdown
Federal employee unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration contending that the layoffs are unlawful and enforcing layoffs and that the current funding lapse does not justify huge job cuts because many federal workers have been furloughed without pay, Reuters reported.
In early October, Illston issued a temporary order pausing layoffs, known as reductions-in-force, against the federal job cuts that were going to expire on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
How many federal workers have been laid off?
Local perspective:
About 4,000 federal employees have received layoff notices since the government shutdown started on Oct. 1, including workers in the Treasury Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
RELATED: Sweeping layoffs 'have begun' as government shutdown drags on
Reuters reported that White House Budget Director Russell Vought said that over 10,000 federal workers could lose their jobs because of the shutdown.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by Reuters, NPR, and the Los Angeles Times. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.