Access is important. Slate is offering six months of Slate Plus to current and recently laid-off federal government employees. If you or someone you know has been affected, click here to get six months of Slate Plus free.

The agencies include the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury.

The government said in a court filing that Charles Ezell, who issued the memos that agencies interpreted as orders to fire thousands of employees, would not appear in court Thursday.

A federal judge has ordered half a dozen federal agencies to “immediately” reinstate probationary employees fired last month as part of the Trump administration’s effort to rapidly shrink the federal workforce.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Charles Ezell, lacked the authority to direct the terminations.

The Justice Department told a federal judge on Tuesday that the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management won’t testify at a hearing later this week in a major case challenging the government’s efforts to cull the federal workforce,