Unions for federal workers have filed a lawsuit to block the mass firings of probationary federal employees by President Donald Trump’s administration, alleging that officials are exploiting and misusing the probationary period to eliminate staff across government agencies.

The move comes amid a government-wide effort to cut probationary workers by the Department of Government Efficiency task force led by billionaire Elon Musk.

More than 2,000 workers at the Interior Department were fired in recent days, according to counts from workers groups and those familiar with the cuts, as probationary workers were targeted across the government.

The federal judge said in a preliminary ruling that the National Treasury Employees Union likely must first bring their challenge to the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

The Trump administration has started firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration probationary employees who maintain critical air traffic control infrastructure, according to their union.

The government’s chief human resources office lacked authority to fire thousands of probationary federal employees, a group of unions argue in a new lawsuit.

The Trump administration can for now continue its mass firings of federal employees, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, rejecting a bid by a group of labor unions to halt President Donald Trump’s dramatic downsizing of the roughly 2.