Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 20 attorneys general, is seeking a temporary restraining order against numerous federal agencies, asking that a federal court order them to cease the illegal mass layoffs of federal probationary employees, and to reinstate those who have been fired. Today’s motion comes after the coalition filed a lawsuit against the agencies over the illegal firings last night.
The motion, seeking immediate relief, is necessary because the mass firings by federal agencies are causing irreparable harm to Illinois and the other plaintiff states. The ongoing and sudden mass firings are straining state resources to support recently unemployed workers and to review and adjudicate claims of unemployment assistance. In the two months since the president’s inauguration, approximately 446 terminated federal employees in Illinois have applied to the state for unemployment benefits. That number is almost as many claims as were filed by former federal employees in all of 2024.
“Many of these illegal firings have come without cause or warning, leaving tens of thousands of federal workers and their families struggling to pay rent, buy groceries and cover other vital household costs,” Raoul said. “State governments have also not had a chance to prepare or budget for an increased demand for unemployment insurance and other social services, such as Medicaid. I am proud to join my fellow attorneys general in filing this lawsuit seeking justice for the many Illinoisans whose lives have been abruptly and groundlessly thrown into chaos.”
As part of an effort to drastically reduce the size of the federal government, the Trump administration initiated mass terminations of federal employees, ordering numerous federal agencies to fire thousands of probationary employees. These personnel are newly hired or have recently been promoted or changed offices, and they are generally subject to a probationary period of one or two years.
While federal agencies claimed, in the form of termination letters, that these probationary employees were fired for unsatisfactory performance or conduct, the firings were clearly part of the administration’s attempt to restructure and downsize the entire federal government. In the lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition of attorneys general assert that the administration was therefore required to follow federal laws and regulations that govern large-scale federal Reductions in Force (RIFs). These critical protections ensure that personnel such as military veterans are given preference in retaining their jobs.
When a RIF results in a layoff of 50 or more employees, agencies must generally give at least 60 days’ advance notice to state governments, so they can provide vital “rapid response” information, resources and services to affected workers. The federal agencies named in the lawsuit failed to provide any advance notice to Illinois, causing a significant burden on the state as it scrambles to respond to the sudden mass layoffs of its residents. Moreover, the unlawful layoffs harm state finances and undermine vital state-federal partnerships.
In today’s motion, Attorney General Raoul is seeking an immediate ruling by the court to:
Joining Raoul in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
