20 states sue Trump over mass firings saying Musk’s DOGE skipped required notices

The administration failed to provide notice before the mass firings, the states argue

Nearly half of the country’s attorneys general sued the Trump administration over the Department of Government Efficiency’s mass firings of federal workers.

The AGs accuse the administration of terminating tens of thousands of probationary employees without first following federal regulations, including a 60-day advance notice to affected employees and states. The federal government and many states require companies to notify employees ahead of mass layoffs.

“These large-scale, indiscriminate firings are not only subjecting the Plaintiff States and communities across the country to chaos. They are also against the law,” the suit filed Thursday says. “Where an agency fails to provide such notice, the employees ‘may not be released.’”

The administration “has run roughshod over” these requirements in the past month, “harming” both the individuals and the states they live in, the AGs argued.

Twenty attorneys general sued the Trump administration over mass firings of federal workers saying proper notice wasn’t given (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

“As a result, many affected employees and their families are struggling to make ends meet—to pay rent, buy groceries, and care for their loved ones,” the complaint states, adding that states are also impacted. The lack of notice has “impeded” states’ ability to support the terminated workers with resources; states are now facing “increased administrative demands related to adjudicating unemployment claims, decreased tax revenues, and increased demands for social services.”

The states are asking the court to require the administration to halt the reductions in force of probationary employees that they have conducted “unlawfully and without notice,” to reinstate any probationary employees who were terminated as part of mass terminations on or after January 20 — President Donald Trump’s first day in office — and to conduct any future layoffs in accordance with applicable laws.

New York, Maryland, California and Illinois are among the states suing the administration, including the departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Defense, and their secretaries.

All of the states that joined the lawsuit are considered Democrat-leaning.

“The Trump administration’s illegal mass firings of federal workers are a slap in the face to those who have spent their careers serving our country,” New York Attorney General James said in a statement Thursday. “Thousands of workers across New York and the nation are now struggling to pay rent, put food on the table, and care for their loved ones. Today, I am joining my fellow attorneys general in defending the rights of workers who serve our communities and stopping the chaos and confusion this unjust policy is causing.”

The firings across the federal workforce have prompted protests. Even Musk has admitted mistakes were made with some of the firings (Getty Images)

DOGE, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk, has been abruptly and haphazardly laying off workers. In some circumstances, the administration has walked back on its sweeping moves, trying to re-hire critical workers after firing them, including some working to combat bird flu and some working at the National Nuclear Security Administration, prompting calls across party lines for the cost-cutting arm to “slow down.”

After mistakenly axing a U.S. Agency for International Development program aimed at curbing the spread of Ebola, the tech billionaire told Trump’s cabinet: "We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect, but when we make mistakes we'll fix it very quickly. For example, with USAID one of the things we accidentally canceled, very briefly, was Ebola prevention."

This isn’t the first time Musk has gotten into hot water over mass firings with little notice.

The X owner was sued in a class action lawsuit after he failed to provide a 60-day notice before laying off hundreds of employees in 2022.