US judge blocks shutdown layoffs amid Trump threats to cut jobs
4 Min Read
A US judge blocks mass federal employee layoffs during the government shutdown as Trump threatens to cut 10,000 jobs amid stalled talks in Congress.
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With the government shutdown now in its third week, a sign turns away tourists at the entrance to the Capitol Visitor Center, in Washington, Wednesday, October 15, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A US judge has ordered a temporary halt to planned mass federal employee layoffs tied to the ongoing US government shutdown, after the White House announced its intent to dismiss up to 10,000 workers. The order came as the shutdown entered its third week, with negotiations between Congress and the Trump administration deadlocked.
US District Judge Susan Illston issued the temporary restraining order on Wednesday in San Francisco, responding to a lawsuit filed by labor unions. The suit argued that the layoffs are "not ordinary" and violate labor protections, especially given the limited access to communication during the shutdown.
US President Donald Trump has vowed aggressive action during the funding standoff, signaling plans to drastically cut the federal workforce as leverage in negotiations with congressional Democrats. His budget chief, Russ Vought, said the administration expects to surpass 10,000 terminations.
“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy,” Vought told reporters. Court documents confirmed that over 4,000 employees were already terminated by Friday, with the US Treasury, health, education, and housing departments hit hardest.
Read more: US government shutdown could cost $15 bln weekly, Treasury warns
Court cites health insurance, communication failures
Judge Illston’s seven-page ruling noted that many employees did not even receive their layoff notices because messages were sent to government email accounts that were inaccessible during the shutdown.
She added that pregnant workers and others with medical concerns were left in uncertainty about their health insurance, with no HR staff available to address their questions.
"Those who have received reduction-in-force notices cannot prepare for their upcoming terminations because the human resources staff who would typically assist them are also furloughed," the judge wrote.
Military pay protected as Capitol police go unpaid
While the Senate failed for the ninth time to approve a House-passed funding bill backed by Republicans, Trump directed US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to reallocate funds to cover military pay, an attempt to avoid 1.3 million service members missing their October 15 paycheck.
The move, while politically strategic, has been criticized by Democrats as legally questionable. Nonetheless, many in Congress have hesitated to challenge it legally, wary of public backlash.
Meanwhile, other essential workers, such as the Capitol Police, missed their full paychecks this week for the first time since the shutdown began.
According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, an estimated 688,000 federal employees are working without pay, while over 706,000 are furloughed. About 832,000 continue to receive pay.
Read more: Pentagon journalists vacate workspaces as new restrictions take effect
Schumer slams layoffs as political weapon
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the Trump administration’s strategy in a floor speech, urging the White House to reverse the terminations and return to negotiations.
“The administration should reverse every single firing from last week and should stop playing politics with people’s livelihoods,” Schumer said. “They should instead get serious about negotiation with Congress to end this shutdown at once.”
US House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed concerns earlier in the week, warning that the country was “barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history.” Johnson has kept the House floor closed since mid-September and has refused to pass standalone legislation to fund critical services, including military salaries.
