Washington state joined a growing federal lawsuit in San Francisco challenging the firing of USDA research scientists and thousands of other probationary federal employees.

Washington was added March 10 as a plaintiff to the lawsuit that alleges the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Charles Ezell, illegally orchestrated simultaneous dismissals in dozens of agencies.

Washington estimates about 1,000 federal employees in the state have been fired. Federal workers help the state enforce environmental and labor laws, fight wildfires and plan salmon harvests, according to the lawsuit.

The firings will make the government less responsive, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement.

Six unions, nine special-interest groups and Washington, the only state to join the suit, are seeking to have an unknown number of workers reinstated to their jobs. The employees were still on probation and received standardized emails in mid-February stating they were being fired based on their performance.

The lawsuit contends the workers were fired in assembly-line fashion under false pretenses as agencies complied with memos issued by Ezell’s office.

U.S. attorneys concede the personnel office can’t fire employees of other agencies. In a court declaration, Ezell stated his office offered guidance on keeping only critical employees and denied ordering the firings.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued a temporary restraining order Feb. 27 requiring Ezell to retract the memos. U.S. attorneys argued the withdrawal of the memos made the case moot, but Alsup affirmed March 10 he expects Ezell to answer questions about his role in the firings, or possibly face sanctions.

Alsup set a hearing for March 13. The status of all of the fired employees is unknown, Alsup said in a written order.

“OPM submits no evidence suggesting that federal agencies — some of which have continued to terminate probationers — are now acting at their own discretion,” Alsup wrote.

Excluding the military and U.S. Postal Service, the federal workforce exceeds 2.4 million, according to a White House fact sheet.

Trump signed an executive order Feb. 11 directing agencies to work with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the workforce and limit hiring to essential positions.