This action follows efforts by the agency’s over 2,000 employees to prevent its closure.
A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction preventing the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from placing thousands of employees on paid administrative leave. This follows a lawsuit filed by two federal worker unions.
Judge Carl Nichols of the US District Court in Washington, DC, issued a temporary restraining order on Friday. This order prohibits the US government from placing approximately 2,200 USAID employees on leave or removing them from their assignments abroad before February 14th. The ruling also reinstates roughly 500 employees already furloughed.
“All USAID employees currently on administrative leave shall be reinstated until that date, and shall be given complete access to email, payment, and security notification systems until that date, and no additional employees shall be placed on administrative leave before that date,” the order states.
A hearing on Wednesday will consider extending the temporary halt, according to the ruling.
Earlier on Friday, Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group filed the suit on behalf of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), representing 800,000 members, and the American Foreign Service Association, representing thousands of foreign service officers at USAID.
President Trump suspended all US foreign aid for a three-month review in one of his first executive orders. This is part of a larger plan to cut government spending. Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently halted several USAID projects.
Trump recently claimed that USAID diverted billions of taxpayer dollars to media outlets to promote Democrats. Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), labeled USAID a “criminal organization” and alleged its involvement in funding bioweapon research.