Trump administration reinstates thousands of probationary federal workers
The Trump administration is making the move after several court orders ruled that the firings were not legal.
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has moved to reinstate at least 24,500 recently fired probationary workers following a pair of orders from federal judges last week that found the terminations pushed by President Donald Trump were illegal.
The reinstatements, spanning 18 departments, are outlined in a filing Monday by the Department of Justice in federal court in Maryland after a judge asked for a report on efforts to reinstate the employees.
The separate declarations from Trump officials within each of the departments offer the most detailed public account yet of the administration's firing of recently hired or promoted probationary workers as part of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's push to drastically cut the federal workforce.
The Treasury Department leads all departments with 7,613 probationary workers who have had their terminations rescinded, with the Internal Revenue Service accounting for the vast majority of these employees, 7,315. It is followed by the Department of Agriculture, which has reinstated 5,714 previously terminated workers, and the Department of Health and Human Services, which has brought back 3,248 employees.
Many of the reinstated federal workers have been placed on paid administrative leave. Workers brought back in some departments will also receive back pay, representatives of these agencies said.
Reinstated workers must be onboarded, trained again
Trump officials said they are complying with an order from U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar in Maryland, who set a 1 p.m. EDT deadline Monday for the reinstatements in a case brought by attorneys general in 19 states and the District of Columbia, all Democrats.
Bredar, appointed by former President Barack Obama, ruled the Trump administration failed to follow proper rules for the terminations, including a requirement to notify states about the layoffs, and wasn't truthful in its claim that the workers were fired for "performance" reasons.
Some human resource officials said their departments fully reinstated the probationary workers, who were typically hired or promoted within the past year, while others said they were in the process of doing so as of Monday.
Trump officials also argued in declarations that reinstating recently fired workers could cause "significant confusion and turmoil" for the employees, suggesting that the workers could be fired again in a matter of weeks if a higher court reversed the judge's ruling on appeal. They also highlighted the "substantial burdens" the process has created for the agencies and employees.
All employees offered reinstatement to full duty would be onboarded again in their departments, they said. This would include retraining, filling out human resources paperwork, obtaining new security badges, reenrolling in benefits programs, reinstituting applicable security clearances and receiving government-furnished equipment.
"The tremendous uncertainty associated with this confusion and these administrativeburdens impede supervisors from appropriately managing their workforce," Mark Green, an assistant secretary of the Interior Department, which has reinstated 1,710 fired workers, said in his declaration filed with the court.
"Work schedules and assignments are effectively being tied to hearing and briefing schedules set by the courts. It will be extremely difficult to assign new work to reinstated individuals in light of the uncertainty over their future status," Green said.
Second judge says rehired workers can't be placed on administrative leave
In a separate order last week, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco demanded the reinstatement of thousands of other probationary workers at six agencies: the Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior and Treasury departments.
Alsup, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said the U.S. Office of Personnel Management – the federal government's human resources agency – lacked the authority to order the firings and did so unlawfully. In a subsequent order Monday, Alsup referenced "news reports" about some probationary workers being rehired but then placed immediately on administrative leave.
"This is not allowed by the preliminary injunction, for it would not restore the services the preliminary injunction intends to restore," Alsup said, ordering the six departments to update the court Tuesday on the number of rehired workers placed on leave.
The Trump administration is appealing both decisions.
The White House lashed out at the decisions last week, accusing the judges of "attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the executive branch." In several cases, Trump officials have complained about decisions of Democratic-appointed federal district judges halting their agenda with decisions that affect the entire country.
"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Trump told reporters Sunday. "It's a judge that's putting himself in the position of the president of the United States, who was elected by close to 80 million votes. You're having more and more of that. It's a very, very dangerous thing for our country."
Trump added: "I would suspect we're going to have to get a decision from the Supreme Court."
The impacted federal departments submitted plans to the White House last week for large-scale "reductions in force" within their agencies as part of a deeper second wave of terminations that go beyond probationary workers, targeting career employees. The judges' orders did not apply to these planned terminations.
Here are the tallies of recently fired probationary workers, by department, the Trump administration says it is working to reinstate:
- Environmental Protection Agency: 419
- Department of Energy: 555
- Department of Commerce: 791
- Department of Homeland Security: 310
- Department of Transportation: 775
- Department of Education: 65
- Department of Housing and Urban Development: 299
- Department of Interior: 1,710
- Department of Labor: 167
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: 117
- Small Business Administration: 298
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.: 156
- Human Capital and Talen Management: 270
- General Services Administration: 366
- Treasury Department: 7,613 (including 7,315 IRS employees)
- Department of Agriculture: 5,714
- Department of Veterans Affairs: 1,683
- Department of Health and Human Services: 3,248
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.