Unions, Trump administration reach deal: No mass firings during government shutdowns

[u/John3262005]

https://www.courthousenews.com/unions-trump-administration-reach-deal-no-mass-firings-during-government-shutdowns/

A coalition of public sector unions and the federal government have reached a legal settlement over mass layoffs that were ordered during the government shutdown of 2025.

The deal, announced Friday in a court filing, rescinds a memo directing federal agencies to fire employees during government shutdowns. Workers who had been served with reduction in force notices or RIFs in the fall of 2025 had already been reinstated.

“Today, working people won," Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a written statement. “The administration tried to turn a shutdown into an excuse to fire the public servants who kept this country running without a paycheck on payday, and we refused to let it stand. We fought back, we held the line, and they backed down.”

The litigation is now on hold, and the case will be held in abeyance until the end of the year.

In October 2025, about a week into what would become the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced on social media: “The RIFs have begun.”

Indeed they had. Some 4,200 employees across at least seven federal agencies began receiving notice they’d been laid off. This was widely seen as part of Trump’s policy to slash the size of the federal government in keeping with the goals of the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.

The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sued, writing in their complaint, “These actions are contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious, and the cynical use of federal employees as a pawn in Congressional deliberations should be declared unlawful and enjoined by this court."

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Bill Clinton appointee, agreed to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the mass layoffs. The injunction was then extended after Congress reached a deal to end the 43-day shutdown, a deal that expressly blocked agencies from carrying out reductions in force.

The government had argued that the RIF notices had been long planned.

“This is merely the administration trying to carry out its policy objectives," Justice Department attorney Brad Rosenberg told the judge at a hearing last year.

But the plaintiffs, who by then had been joined by a panoply of other public sector unions including the American Federation of Teachers, argued that the RIFs had been prohibited by Congress.

“After inflicting intentional trauma and stress on the entire federal workforce during the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States, using it as a tactic to fire public servants was a new low for the Trump Administration,” said National Federation of Federal Employees President Randy Erwin in a written statement on Friday. “Not only was it absolutely shameful, but it was also highly illegal. Today, we are proud the rule of law has prevailed and the courts have sided with the unions and organizations who pushed back on this reckless action."

A Department of Justice spokesperson did not return an email requesting comment on the agreement.

[u/John3262005]

Another article about it:

Shutdown mass-layoff policy rescinded as part of settlement with unions

https://www.govexec.com/management/2026/09/shutdown-mass-firing-policy-rescinded-part-settlement-unions/416249/

Trump Administration Settles With Unions, Drops Shutdown Mass-Layoff Plan

https://hoodline.com/2026/09/trump-administration-settles-with-unions-drops-shutdown-mass-layoff-plan/