Federal Judge Orders Reinstatement of Employees RIF’d by Four Agencies During Shutdown

A federal judge in San Francisco has reversed the terminations of hundreds of federal employees finalized during the government shutdown between October 1, 2025 and November 12, 2025, the Federal News Network reported on December 17, 2025.

A preliminary injuction, signed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California, orders the Departments of Education and State, the Small Business Administration, and the General Services Administration, to rescind reduction-in-force (RIF) notices for employees who were terminated during the shutdown no later than Dec. 23, 2025.

In reaching this decision in a case brought by labor unions of employees in the four agencies (AFGE v. OMB), Judge Ilston rejected Department of Justice’s argument on behalf of the four agencies that Section 120(e) of the federal funding law (H.R. 5371) applies to employees who received RIF notices before Oct. 1 and were terminated during the shutdown. Section 120(e) provides that “any reduction in force proposed, noticed, initiated, executed, implemented, or otherwise taken" between October 1, 2025 and November 12, 2025 "shall have no force or effect."

Judge Ilston’s ruling is significant in that her application of Section 120(e) to the employees of the four agencies applies equally to CRS (and other DOJ) employees who received RIF notices from DOJ on Sept. 29 and were terminated on Oct. 31.