What Does the Supreme Court’s Decision Lifting the Pause on Reductions in Force Mean for Federal Employees?

On Tuesday, July 8^th, the Supreme Court issued an order lifting a District Court injunction that had prohibited federal agencies from moving forward with mass layoffs (Reductions in Force or “RIFs”) without addressing the underlying issue. RIFs across 22 agencies had been on hold since May 2025, when a district court found that the Trump administration’s actions (Executive Order 14210 and related OMB memorandum) ordering widespread RIFs were unlawful and unconstitutional. The Supreme Court’s 8-to-1 Order, issued over a blistering dissent from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, does not resolve underlying questions about the merits of the individual agency RIFs nor does it end litigation over the RIFs in multiple forums.

ALG Partner Michelle Bercovici provides an initial take on the meaning and impact of SCOTUS’s decisions:

Limited in Scope: the Court’s Order explicitly declined to rule on whether any specific RIFS or reorganization plans are lawful. The Supreme Court stated only that the district court erred in granting an injunction based on the legality of the Executive Order and memorandum. The door remains open for the lower court to find that a specific agency RIF or reorganization plan is in violation of law.

The underlying legal case will continue at the District Court level. The coalition bringing the case will continue to pursue the legal challenge to the RIFs at the district court level. The Supreme Court only addressed the question of whether the RIFs could be globally stayed at the 22 agencies during the litigation.

Agencies can move forward with RIFs (at their own peril): with the injunction lifted, individual agencies can decide to implement the previously noticed RIFs or issue new RIFs. However, the district court will be scrutinizing such RIFs and if the court finds the RIFs unlawful, agencies will have to reinstate employees with back pay (expect to see any future district court decisions on the legality of individual agency RIFs appealed back to the Supreme Court).

Federal employees who are terminated pursuant to a RIF must take action to preserve their individual right to appeal. We expect some agencies may move swiftly to reactivate previously paused RIFs. OPM regulations provide individual employees with the right to file an appeal challenging their termination pursuant to a RIF. For employees who are not represented by a Union, employees must electronically file their appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) 30 days from either (a) the effective date of termination (i.e. the day you stop receiving a paycheck); or (b) the date you receive the final decision from the agency terminating you. Employees who are part of a bargaining unit must check with their union to see if the collective bargaining agreement provides specific procedures for appealing a reduction in force. The district court litigation will not pause your deadline for appealing a termination if you are fired pursuant to a RIF!

Cases against individual agencies – to include the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, AmeriCorps – remain active, and injunctions issued in those cases are not impacted by the Supreme Court’s July 8^th Order. Similarly, various appeals and class action appeals have been filed with the MSPB.

The situation is continuing to develop, and additional reporting can be found online: