The federal government is in the process of reinstating tens of thousands of probationary workers, including many employees who reside in Maryland, after a judge issued a temporary restraining order halting the Trump administration’s mass layoffs.
In total, approximately 24,500 employees from 19 departments are getting their jobs back, at least temporarily, after being fired between Jan. 20 and early March.
The human resources chiefs of those agencies submitted status updates last night to the U.S. District Court in Maryland outlining the number of employees fired by each department.
The employees will now have their jobs back, but many will be operating under administrative leave, according to the court documents.
The Treasury Department laid off the highest number with more than 7,600 probationary employees, USDA fired more than 5,700 and HHS let go more than 3,200 workers.
The departments are claiming that reinstating the workers is burdensome because the employees must be onboarded again, go through training and receive government equipment that was returned upon termination.
Nineteen states, including the District of Columbia sued the White House for irreparable harm due to the lack of notice from the federal government about the layoffs.
The states say they had to set up impromptu websites and provided unemployment benefits to the newly laid off workers.
States must be informed 60 days prior to reductions in force in order to prepare for mass unemployment, according to federal law.
Judge James Bredar granted the restraining order because he deemed the White House’s actions to be reductions in force, which require that prior warning.
A federal judge in San Francisco ruled earlier this month that the firing of thousands of probationary federal employees was illegal.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to rescind layoffs of employees working at the National Park Service, The Department of Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration, the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Defense.
The White House lost its appeal to block that measure.
The Trump administration says it is cutting jobs to reduce waste.
“We’re cutting down the size of government. We have to,” President Donald Trump said during a Feb. 27 cabinet meeting. “We’re bloated. We’re sloppy. We have a lot of people that aren’t doing their job.”
However, many critics say that the cuts cleave off large parts of the workforce without retaining the most talented and valuable.
There have already been a handful of instances where the administration has had to backpedal layoffs after firing essential personnel.
