The Trump administration has moved to reinstate thousands of federal workers who were fired as part of efforts to reduce the size of the government. This comes after a judge ruled that the terminations were illegal in one of two ongoing cases.
U.S. District Judge James Bredar ordered last week that probationary employees fired from 18 federal agencies be reinstated. He found that the government’s claim that these workers were let go for “performance” reasons was false.
Court filings from the government on Monday night revealed that more than 24,000 federal probationary workers are being reinstated. These documents offer the clearest picture of the wide scope of the terminations.
According to the filings, many of the workers who are being brought back are on paid administrative leave, while others have returned to full employment.
However, officials warned that the process of bringing back these workers could cause problems. In particular, those fully reinstated will need to go through training and reorientation. Additionally, they could lose their jobs again if an appeals court overturns Judge Bredar’s decision.
Reesha Trznadel, acting chief human capital officer at the Department of Energy, noted in one of the declarations: “Whether required by operation of the TRO here or another court or administrative order, reinstatement of removed employees to full duty status could impose burdens on DOE and cause significant confusion and turmoil for the terminated employees.”
The Trump administration has worked quickly to reshape the federal workforce, including firing many employees still in their probationary periods, which typically last one to two years.
Judge Bredar’s ruling came just hours after a similar decision by a federal judge in San Francisco, who also ruled that firings at six agencies were illegal. These six agencies were included in Bredar’s order as well.
