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WASHINGTON – The onslaught of White House orders threatening the federal workforce is an unlawful effort to remove Congress from overseeing federal agencies, according to a new lawsuit filed Wednesday by the National Treasury Employees Union and others.  

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges multiple executive actions since Jan. 20, including the directive to fire hundreds of thousands of new federal workers after agencies have invested time and resources into their training, badgering nearly 2 million federal employees to resign and conducting mass layoffs while eliminating Congressionally created agencies and the jobs that go with them. 

“The American people will suffer from the loss of the important government services these workers provide,” said NTEU President Doreen Greenwald. “We will not stand idly by while this administration takes illegal actions that will harm citizens, federal employees and the economy.”  

Other plaintiffs include the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW). Together, NTEU and the other unions represent hundreds of thousands of employees in dozens of federal agencies and departments across the nation. 

The lawsuit asks the judge to declare that the mass firing of probationary and other employees and the deferred resignation program, collectively, are unlawful. 

“All of these orders are further evidence that this administration is motivated not by efficiency, but by cruelty and a total disregard for the government services that will be lost,” Greenwald said. 

NTEU represents employees in 37 federal agencies and offices.