In documents filed late Tuesday, the groups alleged that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, is preparing for workforce reductions that could exceed 10,000 positions in the coming months. The filing claims FEMA leadership was instructed to plan for cutting the agency’s staff by as much as 50 percent.
According to the filing, an internal spreadsheet attached to an email outlined sweeping reductions across multiple categories of employees. The document called for a 15 percent cut to “Permanent Fulltime” staff, a 41 percent cut to “Disaster Fulltime” employees, and an 85 percent reduction in FEMA’s “Surge Workforce,” which is used during major emergencies.
CNN previously reported on the existence of the spreadsheet. At the time, a DHS spokesperson said the figures were included in error and stressed that the “numerical assumptions reflected in that draft were not approved, were not adopted, and do not represent FEMA policy or leadership direction.”
Despite those assurances, the court filing argues that staffing reductions are already underway. It points to actions taken on New Year’s Eve, when some FEMA employees in the Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees, known as CORE, received notices that their positions would not be renewed.
While 65 employees were directly notified, the filing notes that between 900 and 1,000 CORE employees had contract renewal dates scheduled in January. The plaintiffs argue that such nonrenewals are not routine and indicate a broader effort to shrink the agency’s workforce.
The organizations behind the lawsuit are asking the court to intervene by blocking DHS from enforcing the alleged 50 percent reduction target and preventing the department from stripping FEMA of its authority to decide whether to renew staff positions.
“Gutting the staff responsible for disaster preparedness and response does not make the country safer,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which is representing some of the plaintiffs. “It leaves families, local governments, and first responders without the support they rely on when emergencies strike.”
Perryman added that the lawsuit seeks to ensure FEMA can continue operating as Congress intended. “The law does not permit the executive branch to dismantle FEMA in this way,” she said.
The Trump administration has made no secret of its desire to either overhaul or dramatically reform FEMA, arguing that the agency needs fundamental changes. The administration was expected to outline its plans for the agency during a meeting last month, but that session was abruptly canceled, leaving questions about the future direction of FEMA unanswered.
The lawsuit is part of a broader legal challenge tied to the administration’s push to reduce the size of the federal workforce. President Trump has repeatedly argued that the federal government has grown too large and inefficient, and his administration has pursued workforce reductions across multiple agencies.
A stopgap funding bill passed by Congress temporarily prevented the administration from laying off federal employees. That measure, however, is set to expire soon, potentially reopening the door for staffing changes if no new agreement is reached.
As the case moves forward, it places a spotlight on the administration’s broader effort to rein in federal agencies, with FEMA now at the center of a legal and political battle over how disaster preparedness and response should be managed going forward.
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