OPM Chief Charles Ezell Defies Court Order
The government is now paying thousands of reinstated employees to sit on administrative leave while agencies scramble to comply with a judge’s ruling.
What’s the best way to handle a court order? If you’re Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell, the answer is simple: pretend it doesn’t exist.
Ezell has informed a federal judge he will not testify about the Trump administration’s mass firings of probationary federal employees. Instead, he’s taking the “Nah, I’m good” approach—likely setting himself up for some interesting legal consequences.
Judge William Alsup had ordered Ezell to show up and explain himself, particularly since the government’s own paper trail contradicts his earlier claim that he never ordered the firings. An email signed by Ezell directed agencies to separate non-mission critical probationary employees within three days. That’s the bureaucratic version of sending a “We need to talk” text, except in this case, the result was 30,000 people losing their jobs.
Bureaucratic Chaos, Now Governmentwide
Initially targeting only a handful of agencies, the legal case has now ballooned to include every cabinet department and eight major agencies.
That means the whole federal workforce is in limbo, with judges, agencies, and politicians scrambling to clean up the mess. Some departments, like Labor and NSF, have already started recalling their employees, while the Defense Department has taken a “fire first, ask questions later” approach.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has a tight deadline: by Wednesday, all 6,000 fired USDA employees must be back on the payroll. But here’s the kicker—they won’t be working. They’ll be on paid administrative leave. That’s right: fired yesterday, back on the books today, but not actually doing anything until further notice. It’s the federal government’s version of a participation trophy.
Congress (Sort Of) Steps In
While the firings were initially cheered on by Republicans as a way to "drain the swamp," even some conservatives are starting to get cold feet. Two House Republicans—Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.) and Jeffrey Hurd (R-Colo.)—have joined Democrats in pushing a bill to protect reinstated employees from being fired all over again. If you got axed, re-hired, and then fired again, you’d still keep your accrued probationary period. It’s the closest thing to job security federal workers have seen in weeks.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) is working to ensure that the Veterans Affairs Department doesn’t get caught in the crossfire by introducing legislation that prevents the administration from gutting VA staffing without congressional oversight. Because if there’s one thing America loves, it’s ensuring veterans have to navigate even more red tape before receiving benefits.
Make It Make Sense
So, let’s break this down:
The Trump administration purged 30,000 federal workers.
A judge said, “You can’t do that,” and ordered them back.
Some agencies are complying, and some aren’t.
The government is now paying thousands of people to sit at home.
The OPM chief is ghosting the court like a bad Tinder date.
All of this could have been avoided if the administration had, you know, followed the law. Instead, we have a workforce that’s half-fired, half-rehired, and fully confused. And somewhere, deep in the bowels of D.C., some poor HR rep is quietly sobbing over a mountain of paperwork.
That’s the point.
Zahead, Chaos Analyst