Overview

• A federal judge in San Francisco has mandated the reinstatement of thousands of U.S. government employees who were unlawfully terminated during their probationary periods.
• The judge found that the stated reason for the terminations, poor performance, was a pretext to bypass federal legal protections for employees.
• The ruling affects employees from multiple federal departments, including Defense, Agriculture, Energy, Interior, and Veterans Affairs.
• The dismissals were part of a broader cost-cutting initiative led by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, implemented under former President Donald Trump.
• The court also prohibited further guidance on such terminations and ordered the removal of Noah Peters, a key advisor in the initiative.