A California federal judge expanded a temporary pause on shutdown-related government layoffs to workers represented by three additional unions, shielding hundreds more Treasury and Department of Health and Human Services employees.
Judge Susan Illston, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, ordered the inclusion of the National Treasury Employees Union and two others to the case, after she halted the Trump administration’s workforce cuts last week for other unions.
NTEU represents over 150,000 federal workers at more than 30 agencies, including those within the Internal Revenue Service, the Patent and Trademark Office, and the Department of Interior. In its request, NTEU noted about 1,000 IRS and Treasury employees were given termination notices Oct. 10.
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and the American Federation of Teachers also were added to the lawsuit and will be covered by Illston’s temporary restraining order.
The American Federation of Government Employees launched the effort to stop the layoffs after the Trump administration sent termination notices to over 4,000 employees earlier this month. White House Budget Director Russell Vought said he expects layoffs related to the ongoing government shutdown to exceed more than 10,000.
Some departments, including Interior and Treasury, have both sought to proceed with layoffs for workers that were not represented by the plaintiff unions.
The case is AFGE v. Office of Personnel Management, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-08302, order granted 10/22/25.
(Updated with Illston's order.)
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