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A federal judge in San Francisco could rule Monday on an emergency request from unions representing government employees, seeking to block immediate layoffs threatened by the White House amid a government shutdown.
The White House senior economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that layoffs could begin as early as Monday, “if the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere.”
Saturday, unions representing federal workers filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, asking Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to block President Donald Trump’s administration from taking immediate action.
Last week, the court received a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The temporary restraining order request follows the AFGE and AFSCME suit.
The unions’ lawsuit focuses on a memo the White House budget office sent to agency leaders in late September to prepare for large-scale firings if the federal government shut down.
The memo from OMB said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week, are not otherwise funded and are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”
President Donald Trump has said on social media that he and budget director Russell Vought would determine “which of the many Democrat Agencies” would be cut.
The unions argue the White House doesn’t have the legal authority to permanently shed workers during a lapse in appropriations, and that after the shutdown, furloughed employees who worked without paychecks would receive back pay.
As of Monday morning, Chhabria’s docket doesn’t reflect that the case has been scheduled for argument Monday.
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