Nearly 6,000 USDA workers fired by Trump ordered back to work for now [View all]

Source: NPR

Updated March 5, 2025 1:22 PM ET


An independent federal board has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to temporarily reinstate close to 6,000 employees fired since Feb. 13, finding reasonable grounds to believe the agency acted illegally in terminating them. The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a stay, ordering USDA to return the fired workers to their jobs for 45 days while an investigation continues. The MSPB acts as an internal court to consider federal employees' complaints against the government.

The order, from board member Cathy Harris, covers probationary employees who received identical termination letters informing them that, based on their performance, they had not demonstrated that their further employment "would be in the public interest."

Since the middle of February, the Trump administration has fired tens of thousands of probationary employees across the federal government, typically those in their first or second year on the job.

The order comes in response to a request from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which is investigating the firings of probationary employees. It follows a similar decision issued last week that temporarily reinstated six probationary workers fired from six different agencies. Those employees are now back on the job at least through April 10, according to their lawyer, Michelle Bercovici.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/05/nx-s1-5318687/usda-fired-federal-employees-probationary-osc-mspb