Although a federal judge issued an order confirming a temporary hold on layoffs at the consumer watchdog agency, its staffers remain on administrative leave.

President Donald Trump's administration has temporarily agreed not to fire any more staff at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a court order issued on Friday, offering workers there an 11th-hour reprieve ahead of feared mass layoffs.

Some grant-funded work, investments in solar energy and lead removal from homes in Massachusetts, has come to a standstill.

By this afternoon, the scope of the layoffs was becoming clearer. More than 1,000 workers were terminated at the Department of Veterans Affairs and about 1,000 more were let go at the Energy Department.

Union leaders representing federal workers have condemned the Trump administration's order for agencies to lay off almost all probationary employees. Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees,