A network of federal employee unions and legal groups are launching a legal defense group to provide counsel to thousands of government workers recently fired by the Trump administration.
Deemed Rise Up, the program will recruit lawyers to provide pro bono legal help to scores of federal workers.
“Federal workers’ unions and allied organizations are already fighting back in court, but thousands of federal workers still need individual legal advice and representation. Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network will mobilize and train thousands of lawyers to provide pro bono legal guidance to federal workers,” the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal government union, wrote in a statement announcing the program.
The Trump administration has fired thousands of employees still in their probationary period – a timeline that can stretch from one to two years depending on the agency.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has also directed agencies to embark on reductions in force (RIFs), which would mean wide-scale government layoffs. Agencies faced a deadline earlier this week to send OMB their plans for doing these reductions.
“It is critical that federal workers have access to legal recourse as the Trump administration threatens and unlawfully terminates hundreds of thousands of proud civil servants,” National Federation of Federal Employees president Randy Erwin said in a statement.
“We are incredibly grateful for the attorneys and allies in our communities who stand with federal workers delivering essential services to the American people.”
Rise Up includes platforms both for fired federal workers and volunteer lawyers who will “receive training to assist workers in need of support.”
The AFL-CIO, Democracy Forward, the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Federation of Federal Employees, National Treasury Employees Union, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the American Constitution Society and the Partnership for Public Service, among others, are supporting the program.