More than 100 federal workers in the Kansas City area could get their jobs back after a U.S. district judge ruled today that the Trump Administration fired them unlawfully.
The administration’s terminations under the Office of Personnel Management targeted probationary employees, who have worked at their agency for about 1-2 years or have recently been promoted.
The office fired around 100 IRS employees in the area as part of a nationwide mass termination. The employees worked on tax refunds, corrected returns and conducted audits. Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to prove it offered reinstatement to all the probationary employees within a week.
Daniel Scharpenburg is the vice president for the National Treasury Employees Union Local 66, which represents IRS workers in the metro. He says the union is excited about the judge’s ruling, but so far hasn’t heard anything about reinstating the workers they represent.
“We do not know how quickly agencies are going to rehire people,” Scharpenburg said. “We hope it happens very quickly because, of course, these people are suffering.”
The NTEU Local 66, along with other unions and supporters, will hold a “Save the Civil Service Rally” outside of the IRS building near Union Station on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. Scharpenburg says they expect a large turnout.
Nearly 30,000 federal workers live in the Kansas City area. There is no definitive number for how many were fired under the directives from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Other agencies with many employees in greater Kansas City include the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Alsup ordered the government to reinstate all probationary employees it fired within the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs. The IRS is under the Treasury Department..
“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that is a lie,” Alsup said before issuing his ruling.
In the meantime, Kansas City will fast-track applications from federal workers. Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw, who sponsored the ordinance, said 17% of the city’s 4,000 positions are currently vacant.
Kansas and Missouri Republicans have largely supported Trump and Musk’s firings. Republican Rep. Mark Alford told fired workers that “God has a plan” at his contentious town hall late last month.
Republican Sen. Jerry Moran broke with local politicians and criticized the plan to cut 80,000 workers nationwide from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids held a roundtable of fired federal workers last week, underscoring the local effects of the pared-down workforce. Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II also condemned the firings.
