The State Department’s plan to start broad employee layoffs at the end of the week violates the November legislative deal to restart the government which prohibits mass firings through January, a group of federal unions argued.
The American Federation of Government Employees in filings Wednesday said it wants the US District Court for the Northern District of California to immediately halt the planned layoffs, set by the Trump administration for Dec. 5.
That resolution prohibits federal agencies from issuing any new reduction in force plans through Jan. 30, 2026, and rescinds the RIFs issued during the record six-week government shutdown.
The unions first sued in late September after the Trump administration followed through on plans to permanently fire thousands of federal workers after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement. Judge Susan Illston issued a preliminary injunction at the end of October halting the layoffs, finding that they appeared to be “for the purpose of political retribution.”
The State Department had initiated layoffs of around 250 foreign service employees in July, but the department said in a Monday email to employees that it will finalize their separations at the end of the week.
The union’s supplemental complaint said the Office of Management and Budget had an incorrect interpretation of layoff protections. The unions argued that even if the State Department’s reduction in force was initiated in July, the legislative deal pauses all ongoing RIFs, including ones initiated before the government shut down in October.
The complaint also said the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the Small Business Administration have failed to rescind RIFs initiated during the shutdown.
Trump signed the continuing resolution, which included the prohibition on RIFs, on Nov. 12.
Altshuler Berzon LLP represents the unions.
The case is AFGE v. OMB, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-08302, 12/3/25.
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