Last Updated: September 20, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min

On September 11, 2026, Judge Susan Illston ruled that DHS broke the law when it took control of FEMA's workforce and ordered a plan to cut the agency roughly in half. The headlines said a judge struck down the FEMA staffing cut. The 32-page order itself orders very little so far. This guide reads the order and tells FEMA employees what changed, what did not, and what October 9 really is.

What the FEMA Staffing Cut Ruling Actually Held

The case is AFGE v. Trump, No. 3

in the Northern District of California. Document 491, filed September 11, 2026, resolves cross-motions for partial summary judgment on the DHS and FEMA claims.

The legal foundation is the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006. In the court's words, that law "established FEMA as a 'distinct entity' within DHS, transferred all 'functions' of FEMA, including its personnel, to FEMA, limited the DHS Secretary's ability to reorganize FEMA, and prohibited the DHS Secretary from substantially or significantly reducing 'the authorities, responsibilities, or functions' of FEMA."

Against that standard, the court found two things unlawful:

  1. Revoking FEMA's authority to renew CORE appointments. "DHS acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it revoked FEMA's long-standing authority to renew CORE appointments. There is no evidence in the record reflecting reasoned decisionmaking for this about-face."
  2. The fiscal 2026 staffing plan. The plan submitted to DHS on December 4, 2025 projected "FY26 personnel at 11,383, or approximately half of prior levels." The court wrote: "Frankly, the FEMA staffing plan number appears as if pulled from thin air. Joseph Guy, who told Evans to include an option for a 50% cut, could not explain where the number came from."

The court also found DHS and FEMA violated Section 120 of the fall 2025 continuing resolution through steps taken from November 12, 2025 into January 2026 to cut FEMA staffing, starting with COREs whose not-to-exceed dates fell in January. And it applied an adverse inference over deleted Signal messages, finding officials "acted with the intent to deprive plaintiffs" of those messages.

Judgment was granted on Claims VIII, X, XI, and XIII, the Administrative Procedure Act claims against DHS and FEMA. The government's cross-motion was denied.

What the Court Did Not Order

AFGE asked the court to rescind every CORE non-renewal notice issued since January 1, 2026 and to return separated employees to the positions they would have held. The court said no, for now. Its reason: "since January 22, 2026, FEMA is no longer systematically non-renewing the COREs and there is no indication at present that FEMA is otherwise taking action on the annual staffing plan."

Instead, the order directs the parties to "meet and confer as to the scope of relief." If they cannot agree, "they shall file a joint statement on what relief issues remain outstanding, no later than October 9, 2026. The Court will then issue a ruling on relief forthwith."

Two more things are unresolved in the order's own text:

  • Back pay. "The parties also dispute whether the back pay plaintiffs seek on behalf of COREs who were separated in January is barred by sovereign immunity." The court did not decide it.
  • Renewal terms today. "The record reflects that DHS continues to usurp FEMA's authority to renew CORE terms and that COREs are currently being renewed for shorter terms (six months to one year) than the historical two-year, or more recent four-year, terms." The ruling names the practice. It does not stop it.

The September 11 order is a finding of illegality plus an instruction to negotiate. Reinstatement, back pay, and any limit on renewal terms are all still open.

Who This Ruling Is About

The order centers on FEMA's Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees, the term, disaster-funded responders known as COREs. The court describes CORE staff as "nearly half of the FEMA workforce," and separately counts "nearly 9,000 Stafford Act CORE employees" and "nearly 8,000 Stafford Act reservists."

The specific conduct found unlawful was about COREs: DHS's mid-2025 grant of renewal authority "for 180-day terms" with "an arbitrary expiration date on that authority of December 31, 2025," the January non-renewals by expiration date rather than performance or need, and the shortened renewal terms that continue today.

The court's winter-storm observation shows why it called the process arbitrary: FEMA "stopped offboarding COREs on January 22, 2026, due to a pending severe winter storm." Had the storm come earlier or later, "different employees would have been separated."

Permanent full-time FEMA employees under Title 5 are covered by the broader finding that the 11,383-person plan was unlawful, but the operative holdings do not order anything about their positions.

The Cut That Was Planned vs. the Cut That Happened

FedTools 2026 analysis. Planned figures come from the court order and its exhibits. Actual figures come from GAO-26-108427, the August 2026 report covered in our FEMA workforce GAO report guide.

Measure Figure Source
Baseline headcount the court cites About 23,000 Order, p. 2
Staffing-plan target found unlawful 11,383 Order, p. 29, plan exhibit
Planned reduction if carried out About 11,617 positions (about 50.5%) FedTools computed: 23,000 minus 11,383
Actual fiscal 2025 separations 4,300 or more GAO-26-108427
FY2025 separations as a share of headcount About 17% of GAO's FY2025 average headcount of 25,134 (about 18.7% of the court's 23,000 baseline); separations are not a net reduction GAO-26-108427; FedTools computed
Workforce as of April 2026 About 21,000 GAO-26-108427
Positions the plan would have cut beyond what happened About 9,600 FedTools computed: 21,000 minus 11,383

Denominator note: the planned-cut percentages are of the roughly 23,000 baseline the order itself uses; the 17 percent separations figure is of GAO's FY2025 average headcount of 25,134. The order also uses a rounded "11,500" in its opening summary; the 11,383 figure is the precise number from the staffing-plan exhibit.

What a FEMA Employee Should Do Now

If you are a CORE employee with a pending renewal. Nothing in the order changes your term today. Keep a dated record of your renewal history: term lengths, not-to-exceed dates, and any written communication about renewal. If the remedies ruling later reaches renewal terms, that paper trail is what you will need.

If you received a non-renewal notice in January 2026. The order establishes that the conduct behind those notices was unlawful. It does not rescind your notice or award back pay. Both questions go to the remedies phase. Keep your notice, your term history, and your separation paperwork. Note that a term expiration is not a RIF, so RIF-specific rights such as CTAP and ICTAP priority depend on how your separation was coded. Our CTAP and ICTAP rights guide explains which codes trigger which rights.

If you are permanent full-time FEMA staff. The ruling does not order anything about your position. It does establish that DHS cannot cut FEMA by imposing an unsupported number from above. That matters for the next staffing plan, not for your paycheck this month.

If you are weighing whether to stay through the uncertainty. If you are retirement-eligible, run the numbers before you decide anything. Our VERA Eligibility Checker takes your age and years of service and tells you whether you clear the basic VERA thresholds; whether an actual offer covers your position is HR's call. The FERS calculator below estimates the annuity itself.

What to Watch Between Now and October 9

  • Meet-and-confer outcome. If DHS and the unions agree on relief, they report the agreement to the court, which still acts on it. If not, the October 9 joint statement lists what is still contested.
  • A notice of appeal. We found none on the RECAP docket mirror as of September 20, 2026. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters the ruling was "laughable" and that the judge should "stay in your lane," per Government Executive.
  • Renewal-term changes. Any move by DHS to return CORE renewals to two- or four-year terms would signal the government is trying to settle rather than litigate remedies.
  • The remedies ruling. If the parties cannot agree, the joint statement is due no later than October 9 and Judge Illston then rules "forthwith," with no date set. Agreed relief can come earlier.

We will update this post when the joint statement is filed or the remedies order issues.

Estimate Your FERS Annuity Before You Decide

If FEMA's uncertainty has you thinking about retirement timing, our free FERS Retirement Calculator takes your high-3 salary, years of service, and age and shows your estimated annuity, including the MRA+10 reduction that applies when you retire before 62 under that provision. It does not tell you whether your agency will offer an early out. Run your numbers →

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the FEMA ruling get anyone their job back?

Not automatically, and not yet. The September 11 order found DHS acted unlawfully but declined to order reinstatement or rescind non-renewal notices because FEMA had stopped systematically non-renewing CORE employees on January 22, 2026. Relief is unresolved: if the parties cannot agree, a joint statement is due no later than October 9, and the court then rules on remedies.

Was the 50 percent FEMA staffing cut actually carried out?

No. The court's own reasoning says FEMA was no longer acting on the plan. GAO reported more than 4,300 separations in fiscal 2025, about 17 percent of average headcount, against a plan that targeted 11,383 employees, about half.

What happens on October 9, 2026?

DHS and the plaintiff unions must meet and confer on relief. If they cannot agree, they file a joint statement on what remains contested by October 9. Judge Illston then rules on remedies with no set date. It is a filing deadline, not a hearing.

Is back pay available to CORE employees separated in January?

Undecided. The order notes the parties still dispute whether the back pay sought for COREs separated in January is barred by sovereign immunity. The court did not resolve that question in this document.

Did the ruling stop the shorter CORE renewal terms?

No. The order states that DHS continues to control CORE renewals and that COREs are currently being renewed for six months to one year instead of FEMA's historical two-year or four-year terms. The court called that practice unresolved.

Is DHS appealing the FEMA ruling?

We found no notice of appeal on the CourtListener RECAP mirror of the docket as of September 20, 2026; the mirror can lag PACER. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin publicly criticized the ruling, which is not the same as filing an appeal.

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