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The Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are firing and laying off thousands of government employees across multiple agencies. In 2024, the federal government employed approximately 116,000 IT workers, and that isnt counting contractors and military and post office employees, Computerworld reports.These legions of federal tech workers are in the same boat as all federal employees, afloat on a sea of chaos and uncertainty. Several lawsuits have been filed in the wake of the job reductions, but litigation is not a fast-moving process.InformationWeek spoke to three attorneys about the job cuts, legal action, and what could lie ahead for federal workers.The TerminationsThe total number of federal employees impacted thus far is not clear. Approximately 75,000 employees accepted the deferred resignation offer, referred to as Fork in the Road, to leave their jobs, according to The Hill. But the program has been paused following a ruling by a federal judge.Probationary employees, people who typically have been in their roles for less than a year, have been a significant target of layoffs. AP News reports that there are 220,000 federal employees who had been working in their roles for less than a year as of March 2024.Related:I don't think we're getting any clear or transparent data about the segments of the government that are being most impacted, Areva Martin, civil rights attorney and managing partner and founder of law firm Martin & Martin, tells InformationWeek.The workforce reductions are wide-ranging and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is essentially shuttered. Jobs are being cut at the Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, Department of Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Personnel Management, and the list goes on.The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a significant repository of technical talent, is also facing cuts. Maybe a few weeks ago, we all thought that there was categories employees that would be protected -- like IT workers, like Department of Defense employees, employees that are essential to our national security like the nuclear safety employees -- that were terminated, says Liz Newman, member and litigation director at The Jeffrey Law Group, which focuses on federal sector employment disputes.The LawsuitsA flurry of lawsuits was swift to follow the firings and layoffs ordered by the White House and DOGE.Related:Several employees who received high marks on recent performance reviews were among those to be caught up in the mass firings, Reuters reports.When you're letting people go and you're citing things like their performance and their fit, but at the same time you're letting large groups go indiscriminately without surely looking at their performance and fit, I think that's opening up this administration to some legal liability, says Newman.Indeed the Trump administration faces class actions, representing thousands of people, for the way it is handling the firing of probationary employees.Alden Law Group and legal services nonprofit Democracy Forward are representing civil servants across nine agencies, with plans to cover others, in a complaint filed with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The complaint could go before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), a government agency that aims to protect Federal merit systems against partisan political and other prohibited personnel practices, according to the MSPB website.Complicating matters, the Trump administration is attempting to fire Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, the head of the OSC, Federal News Network reports.Related:While that drama unfolds, other pushback is underway. Several labor groups representing federal employees are suing the Trump administration, arguing that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) does not have the authority to order the mass firings that occurred, Reuters reports.The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) represents more than 1,000 frontline employees, and it is suing the administration to challenge the closure of the CFPB.As DOGE takes an axe to government agency jobs in the name of saving money and improving efficiency, alarm bells around its access to sensitive data have been clanging. Several lawsuits are underway on that front.Theyve been given unfettered access in some cases to the most private and sensitive information of not only government employees but of US citizens I've been tracking lawsuits filed about violations of the Privacy Act of 1974, says Martin.How successful could legal pushback be?I think some of the employees, particularly those employees who again are governed by labor contracts [and] those employees who are civil service employees, they're going to be met with greater success because their due process rights have been violated, and there are clear contractual terms that define how they can be terminated, says Martin.The outcome of these lawsuits, and the more likely to come, is far from decided, and it could take years for some cases to reach their conclusion.Some of these lawsuits may go past Trumps four years in office. But many of them, I suspect, will be resolved during his term in office, says Martin.She anticipates that some of these cases may make their way to the Supreme Court. An Uncertain FutureThousands of federal workers are facing an unclear future: those who accepted the Fork in the Road offer, those who have been terminated, and those who were fired and then asked to come back. The possibility of more job cuts still looms; these frenetic firings took place in the very early days of the Trump administration.We hear a lot of sadness from them [federal employees], even more so than the fear of not getting paid is the of disappointment in how this has all played out, says Newman.As we see cases progress through the legal system, there are questions about action the current administration may take to make it easier to terminate federal employees in the future.This administrations goal is to make it easier for all employers, not just the federal government but for private employers, too, to be able to fire employees without regards for any of the rights that they previously may have [had], says Martin.While some lawsuits may ultimately be successful, it is likely that many people will permanently lose their federal jobs. For those who remain, there are plenty of questions about the future of their employment.Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward, according to the Fork in the Road email sent to federal employees.Brett OBrien, founder and partner at National Security Law Firm, a military and federal administrative law firm, notes that this could mean a close examination of security clearances. This is pertinent to IT professionals because most of them have to have fairly high clearances, he says. If you have anything that could be concerning from a security clearance perspective, take care of it now.Elon Musk, head of DOGE, has been vocal about pushing for automation to replace human jobs in the government. But that opens up questions about the IT workforce. There's got to be someone behind there to troubleshoot and fix the problems, says OBrien.What about the long-term outlook for federal employment in general? It will take time to understand the full impact of this upheaval and to see the outcome of legal action, but this has potential to change the way people view federal employment.Traditionally, federal employment has been seen as a fairly steady and consistent career path. And I think that you're starting to see some of those thoughts be challenged and changed, says OBrien. Are you going to have talented people still wanting to go into the federal service and maybe make a career of it? They might start looking at it as an opportunity to get a really good experience and then, look to jump out quicker.
