CNN
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A workers’ board is reinstating – at least temporarily – almost 6,000 fired probationary workers from the Department of Agriculture, according to a newly issued order obtained by CNN.
The order, by the Merit Systems Protection Board, undercuts President Donald Trump’s attempts to downsize the federal civil service and is a major indication that the mass layoffs were unlawful and may eventually be reversed by the board.
It also signals the board may reverse the Trump administration’s approach to mass firings across several other agencies in the federal government.
Probationary workers, meaning those who have been in their positions about a year or less, lost their jobs at USDA beginning on February 13. The reason the Trump administration gave for the cutbacks was that these employees “demonstrated that [their] further employment” wouldn’t be “in the public interest.”
A special counsel who looked at the employees’ claims argued to the workers’ board the mass layoffs appeared not to follow the law for how the government can cut back its workforce. On Wednesday, the Merit Systems Protection Board agreed, in an opinion written by board member Cathy Harris.
That means the workers should be able to go back to work immediately, at least for 45 days, starting Wednesday, Harris said. The special counsel – a different government office than the more high-profile special counsels at the Justice Department like Jack Smith and Robert Mueller – now can investigate further and the board can look again at the legal questions around the mass layoffs at USDA to determine if the firings were unlawful.
The lead worker in the case before the board, whose name is anonymized, was a forestry technician who lost his job on February 13, the opinion said.
He had told the board he had only received positive feedback from agency leadership about his work and had never been disciplined for performance issues. His supervisor also wasn’t aware he was going to be fired until hours before he was notified, the board’s documents said.
The board said on Wednesday the reinstatement is for all USDA probationary employees fired since February 13 who were told by the administration they were losing their jobs because of performance. At least 5,950 probationary employees have lost their jobs since two weeks ago, according to the Agriculture Department.
The Agriculture Department has to show the board within five days that it’s complied with reinstating the employees, the board’s opinion said.
USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is the first mass firing case that has been successful, even in a preliminary stage, of reinstating thousands of probationary workers the Trump administration has tried to cut.
Firings like these have taken place across many different agencies, with challenges erupting in several different federal courts and before the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent body within the executive branch that Trump is also trying to influence.
The case follows the board’s decision to temporary reinstate last week six probationary workers at various agencies who lost their jobs since Trump took office.
Courts in recent days have also reversed Trump’s attempts to fire two worker protection officials involved in these cases: Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, who will continue to investigate the firings, and an MSPB board member, Cathy Harris.
“The thousands of probationary terminations at USDA appear to have been carried out in a manner inconsistent with federal personnel laws,” Dellinger said in a statement earlier this week. “In most cases, probationary employees may only be terminated if their specific, individual performance or conduct demonstrates that they are unfit for federal employment.”
Correction: This story has been updated to identify Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris as the author of Wednesday’s opinion.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
