Attorney General Tong Wins Temporary Block on Mass Firings of Federal Probationary Employees and Gets Fired Employees Their Jobs Back

Federal Judge Orders 18 Federal Agencies to Give Employees Their Jobs Back by Monday

Hartford, CT – Attorney General William Tong issued the following statement after a federal judge in the United States District Court for Maryland issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) for 18 federal agencies, ordering them to stop the illegal mass layoffs of federal probationary employees and to reinstate fired employees by 1:00pm on Monday, March 17, 2025.

“This order is a major reprieve for thousands of workers across the country

and here in Connecticut. These are people we all rely on to keep our skies safe, to make sure our retirees get their checks on time, to get our veterans the healthcare and benefits they served and sacrificed for. And these people are the backbones of families all over who rely on this work to pay their mortgage and feed their children. In their rush to gut the federal government, Donald Trump and Elon Musk illegally bulldozed through basic required steps, and we’re not going to let him get away with this lawless and needless cruelty,” said Attorney General Tong.

The TRO order comes seven days after Attorney General Tong joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general on March 6, 2025, in suing numerous federal agencies for causing irreparable injuries to Connecticut and the other plaintiff states. The lawsuit sought immediate relief. The TRO stops the unlawful mass firings, orders the agencies to give those employees their jobs back, and applies to the following 18 federal agencies:

Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Interior
Department of Labor
Department of Transportation
Department of Treasury
Department of Veterans Affairs
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
General Services Administration
Small Business Administration
United States Agency for International Development

Attorney General Tong was joined by the attorneys general of Maryland, Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

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