Workforce Updates: Layoffs Halted at Last Minute, Telework Controversy Erupts

Federal layoffs are the subject of intensifying court battles. This as the Trump Administration tries to move forward with various layoffs, even as the law ending the shutdown prohibits federal layoffs until January 30, 2026. 

First, a federal judge in California blocked the State Department from laying off about 250 employees, many of them foreign service officers (FSOs). 

Judge Susan Illston issued a temporary restraining order, saying the unions that filed suit were likely to prevail on their claim that the cuts violate federal law. The State Department originally announced the layoffs in July, but since FSOs are given a required 120 days’ notice, they were not let go during the shutdown. The State Department says the layoff protections only apply to notices that went out starting October 1, 2025. 

Some of the groups that filed the lawsuit, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the nonprofit group Democracy Forward, are seeking to expand the restraining order to cover about 800 employees at other agencies who were notified of their layoffs before the shutdown, but are still awaiting official termination. 

Democracy Forward said the amended lawsuit seeks to reverse “other unlawful RIF actions” at the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the General Services Administration (GSA), as well as the departments of Education and Defense.

Telework Fight at HHS

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is putting additional restrictions on employees with disabilities who request telework. 

All requests for telework, remote work or reassignment must now be approved by an official at the assistant secretary level or above, rather than a supervisor, a move that will likely slow the approval process. 

HHS is also restricting the use of telework as an “interim accommodation,” while the agency processes the reasonable accommodation request.

Workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for example, have been told to report back to the office until their request for telework is reviewed.

HHS, which now handles all reasonable accommodation requests from its component agencies, faces a backlog of more than 3,000 cases — which it expects will take six to eight months to complete.

Critics say the move will harm workers.

“By centralizing reasonable accommodation-deciding officials, you’re removing the decision from the person who knows the most about the job. The immediate supervisor or manager knows what the job is, how the job is normally performed. They know the employee,” said Jodi Hershey, a former FEMA reasonable accommodation specialist and the founder of EASE, LLC, a firm that helps employers and employees navigate workplace accessibility issues.