A federal court has again told the Trump administration to return laid-off U.S. Department of Education employees to the job—this time specifically to the arm of the federal agency that investigates discrimination complaints in schools.
The same Boston-based federal judge who in May told the administration to reinstate nearly 1,400 laid-off Education Department employees issued an order in another case Wednesday telling the Education Department to restore its office for civil rights to how it existed when President Donald Trump took office in January.
He also ordered the office to investigate all discrimination complaints it receives. The Trump administration had prioritized in recent months a small subset related to disability-based discrimination; antisemitism; and alleged violations of presidential directives aimed at rooting out diversity, equity, and inclusion programming in schools and barring transgender athletes from girls’ sports and locker rooms.
Judge Myong Joun, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, was ruling in a case filed by the parents of two students who had experienced discrimination at school, which OCR was investigating, and an organization that represents sexual assault victims, the Victim Rights Law Center. Their case challenged the dismissal of nearly half of OCR’s employees and the closure of seven of its 12 regional offices as part of a March reduction in force that left the Education Department with about half the staff it had when Trump took office.
OCR, which had 560 employees prior to the cuts, is the Education Department’s second largest division and was among the hardest-hit by the staff reductions. The office is charged with enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws at the nation’s schools and colleges by investigating complaints and working with schools to bring them into compliance. It’s among the largest civil rights enforcement divisions across the federal government.
But Joun found that a reduced OCR isn’t fulfilling its legal mandates to investigate all complaints, pointing to investigations that have stalled and the lack of newly announced probes into racial discrimination against Black, Latino, and Indigenous students as well as traditional sex discrimination cases.
On the other hand, the Trump administration has launched dozens of investigations aligned with the president’s political priorities—nearly 60 as part of the administration’s effort to root out diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and more than 30 targeting school and state policies concerning transgender athletes, according to an Education Week analysis.
It’s also touted a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies to carry out investigations aligned with the president’s directives—such as recently publicized investigations into Minnesota’s department of education and the state’s high school athletics association over a state policy allowing transgender athletes to play on girls’ teams.
But that collaboration, Joun wrote, “does not address the fact that OCR is currently incapable of addressing the vast majority of OCR complaints.”
When Trump took office, the administration instructed OCR investigators to pause much of their work, freezing in-progress investigations, cutting off communication with parties in their cases, and canceling scheduled meetings and mediation sessions. The Education Department lifted that freeze in February, but only for cases alleging disability-based discrimination.
“To be clear, the new administration has some leeway regarding how it decides to prioritize certain OCR complaints,” Joun wrote, “but it cannot pick and choose which complaints it will investigate, and which complaints it will not investigate at all.”
OCR doesn’t have capacity to investigate complaints, judge finds
Before Trump took office, OCR had more than 12,000 pending investigations, with nearly half—more than 5,800—concerning disability-based discrimination. OCR can’t resolve those now because of the staff reductions and office closures, Joun wrote.
“[M]ost of the students behind those complaints will never receive meaningful relief due to OCR’s lack of intervention, to secure needed learning accommodations or to allow them to return to school safely,” he wrote.
One student at the center of the case is a 10-year-old Michigan boy with a severe dairy allergy who faced bullying from classmates—students who rubbed cheese on his desk and poured milk on his lunch and coat, according to the lawsuit documents. OCR opened an investigation into the school’s response in October 2024. The case was headed toward mediation until OCR told the student’s mother in February 2025 it had paused the investigation.
The other student is a 12-year-old Nebraska boy who is Black and experienced racial harassment at school—racial epithets, pushing, and other physical aggression from classmates. OCR opened an investigation into the school’s response in December 2023, but “there is now radio silence” about it from OCR, Joun wrote.
Since the OCR office closures, the regional office that was handling the investigation, in Kansas City, has also absorbed the caseload of the shuttered Dallas office.
Both parents have withdrawn their sons from the public schools they attended.
“Without ongoing OCR investigations, the students are unable to attend school for fear of reentering a hostile environment,” Joun wrote.
It’s the second legal success in challenges to Education Department staff cuts
Joun’s second order telling Trump officials to restore Education Department staff comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a request from the Trump administration to block his first order, which applies to the entire federal agency and not just OCR.
As a result of Joun’s first order, the Education Department has extended the paid administrative leave period for laid-off employees, who originally were set to be terminated June 9. They’re now still receiving pay, and the agency has taken some steps to prepare for their return. It has identifed temporary office space and sent a survey to laid-off employees, according to court filings.
The Education Department also halted work on arrangements for other federal agencies to handle some of its responsibilities.
Joun’s first order came in response to two cases—one filed by the Democratic attorneys general of 20 states and the District of Columbia, and the other filed by a handful of Massachusetts school districts and unions. So far he is the only judge considering challenges to Education Department staff reductions to rule in favor of restoring staff.
A federal judge last month refused to reverse OCR staff cuts in a case also brought by parents with pending discrimination complaints. And earlier this month, two federal judges ruling in three cases challenging cuts to the department’s research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences, declined to issue orders restoring terminated staff and contracts.
2025-06-19 13:59:52
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