WASHINGTON: A U.S. court has mandated the Trump administration to reinstate nearly 25,000 federal workers who were recently dismissed, ruling that their mass termination was likely unlawful. Federal agencies are now working to bring these employees back following the court’s decision.
The court filings, submitted late Monday in a federal court in Baltimore, Maryland, included statements from officials at 18 agencies. These officials confirmed that the reinstated probationary workers are being placed on administrative leave, at least temporarily. The mass dismissals, part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce the federal workforce, had been widely reported. However, these filings provide the first comprehensive account of the terminations.
Most agencies reported dismissing a few hundred workers, with the Treasury Department letting go of approximately 7,600 employees, the Department of Agriculture around 5,700, and the Department of Health and Human Services more than 3,200, according to the documents.
On March 13, U.S. District Judge James Bredar ruled that the mass firings of probationary workers, which began last month, were likely unlawful and ordered their reinstatement pending further litigation. While the ruling did not prevent agencies from dismissing workers in the future, it criticized the manner in which the terminations were carried out, emphasizing that proper procedures for large-scale layoffs should have been followed.
Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are long-time federal employees. In a brief order on Tuesday, Judge Bredar noted that agencies had made “meaningful progress toward compliance” with his ruling. He instructed them to provide an update on their reinstatement efforts by Monday afternoon and expressed his expectation of “substantial compliance.”
The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by 19 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., which argued that the mass dismissals would lead to a surge in unemployment claims and increased demand for state-funded social services. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office, leading the lawsuit, stated that it is reviewing the court filings.
The Trump administration has appealed Judge Bredar’s ruling and, on Monday, requested that a Richmond, Virginia-based appeals court pause the order while the case proceeds.
Former probationary workers from the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service, and the General Services Administration told Reuters they had received emails informing them of their reinstatement with full pay but placing them on administrative leave. One reinstated worker at the General Services Administration, which oversees government real estate, expressed skepticism about retaining his job long-term but acknowledged the short-term relief of receiving pay and benefits. “My family has health insurance, and this gives me a little bit of runway to figure out what’s next,” he said.
**San Francisco Ruling**
Hours before Judge Bredar issued his March 13 ruling, a federal judge in San Francisco had also ordered the reinstatement of probationary workers at six agencies, including five covered by Bredar’s ruling and the U.S. Department of Defense. The administration has appealed this decision as well.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup, in an order on Monday, criticized the administration’s decision to place probationary employees on administrative leave instead of allowing them to return to work. He stated that this did not comply with his order to reinstate the workers, as it failed to restore government services as intended.
The U.S. Department of Justice, responding to Judge Alsup on Tuesday, argued that placing workers on leave was a preliminary step toward full reinstatement and assured that “administrative leave is not being used to skirt the requirement of reinstatement.”
In the Baltimore court filings late Monday, agency officials stated that they had either reinstated all dismissed employees or were in the process of doing so. They acknowledged that the large-scale reinstatements had caused confusion and disruption. Officials also warned that if an appeals court overturns Judge Bredar’s order, agencies might dismiss the workers again, leading to multiple changes in their employment status within weeks.
“The tremendous uncertainty associated with this confusion and these administrative burdens impede supervisors from appropriately managing their workforce,” wrote Mark Green, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Interior, in one of the filings. “Work schedules and assignments are effectively being tied to hearing and briefing schedules set by the courts.”
Judge Bredar has scheduled a hearing for March 26 to determine whether his ruling should remain in effect while the lawsuit continues, a process that could take months or longer to resolve.
