Judge Orders That Wrongly Terminated National Park Service Employees Be Rehired

By

NPT Staff

Published Date

March 13, 2025

A federal judge's ruling Thursday that the National Park Service must rehire any employees who were wrongfully fired on Valentine's Day was praised by park advocates.

“Today’s ruling by Judge (William) Alsup is an important win for National Park Service employees who were wrongfully terminated,” said Phil Francis, chair of the executive council of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks. “These probationary employees must now be reinstated immediately and can return to the important business of protecting the irreplaceable resources and stories found at over 430 units of the National Park System. We know there are more fights ahead and we are grateful for the continued dedication and passion of our NPS employees who continue to protect our parks for future generations.”

Alsup on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction broadening a temporary restraining order against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its acting director, Charles Ezell, finding the termination of probationary federal employees illegal because OPM had no authority to order it.

The 1,000 NPS jobs lost were part of more than 2,000 being fired from the Interior Department overall.

The Park Service staff losing their jobs were still on probation, lacked job protection, and had been targeted by the Trump administration. Kristen Brengel, NPCA's senior vice president for government affairs, had earlier said the administration used no logic in firing the employees.

In Congress, U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) had demanded that the administration halt its "unlawful mass firings of federal employees on probationary status."

“AFGE is pleased with Judge Alsup’s order to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of probationary federal employees who were illegally fired from their jobs by an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public,” said Everett Kelley, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees. “We are grateful for these employees and the critical work they do, and AFGE will keep fighting until all federal employees who were unjustly and illegally fired are given their jobs back."

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