A federal judge in San Francisco ordered the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to rescind its instructions directing federal agencies

The Trump administration must halt its firings of thousands of government employees who have been hired in the past two years, dismissals that had no legal justification, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Thursday.

The Office of Personnel Management has revised a Jan. 20 memo asking federal agencies to identify probationary employees ahead of a mass firing. The reissued memo does not order fired workers reinstated.

Federal employees reported getting a second email from OPM telling them to list 5 recent accomplishments on a weekly basis.

The ruling is a setback for the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to dramatically shrink the federal workforce.

Attorneys general are suing the Trump administration, saying federal agencies unlawfully fired probationary employees without the required notice.

A judge has found that the mass layoffs of probationary government employees were likely unlawful. Newsweek's live blog is closed.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture must temporarily reinstate nearly 6,000 probationary employees fired since Feb. 13, according to a ruling by the Merit Systems Protection Board.

A federal court said OPM's directives on probationary firings have no legal effect, since the office has no authority to order firings in other agencies.

A federal judge ruled that the terminations at agencies including the Department of Defense were probably illegal.

"OPM also clarified that a non-response to the email does not equate to a resignation," the email said. The update came hours after news broke about a newly amended lawsuit that noted Musk's recent threat. The new filing in San Francisco federal court came ...