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The government said in a court filing that Charles Ezell, who issued the memos that agencies interpreted as orders to fire thousands of employees, would not appear in court Thursday.

The Justice Department told a federal judge on Tuesday that the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management won’t testify at a hearing later this week in a major case challenging the government’s efforts to cull the federal workforce,

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Charles Ezell, lacked the authority to direct the terminations.

A federal judge is requiring the head of the Office of Personnel Management to testify Thursday about the mass firing of probationary employees.