A federal judge in San Francisco ordered the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to rescind its instructions directing federal agencies to dismiss thousands of probationary workers Thursday. U.S. District Judge William Alsup said OPM had no authority to order the mass firings,

U.S. District Judge William Alsup instructed the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees. The ruling is

A federal court said OPM's directives on probationary firings have no legal effect, since the office has no authority to order firings in other agencies.