Trump’s plan to place USAID workers on leave blocked

KABUL (Pajhwok): A judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's plan to place 2,200 US Agency for International Development (USAID) workers on paid leave, the BBC reported on Saturday.

Judge Carl Nichols issued a "limited" temporary restraining order in response to a last-minute lawsuit filed by two unions seeking to protect the agency. The order will remain in effect until February 14 midnight.

Trump has argued USAID, the overseas aid agency, is an inefficient use of taxpayer money and has expressed plans to dismantle it.

He aims to place nearly all of the agency's 10,000 employees on leave, except for 611 workers.

As of Friday, around 500 staff members had already been placed on administrative leave, with another 2,200 set to follow from midnight.

However, the lawsuit, filed on Friday, claims the government is violating the US Constitution and that the workers are experiencing harm as a result.

"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," Nichols wrote.

sa/mud