Terminated Labor Department Employees Reinstated, Union Says (1)

Fired Labor Department employees were reinstated Friday after being discharged last month as part of the Trump administration’s widespread terminations of newer hires, according to a union email obtained by Bloomberg Law.

Those probationary workers are expected to report back to work on Monday, according to the email.

The reinstatements come a day after President Donald Trump told agency leaders to wield a “scalpel” instead of a “hatchet” for workforce cuts. Since the inauguration, the administration has fired tens of thousands of federal employees, including probationary staffers.

“It’s our understanding that this decision affects about 120 employees, most of whom had been placed on administrative leave,” said Tim Kauffman, spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees.

Bloomberg Law previously reported that probationary firings affected the department’s Women’s Bureau, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Disability Employment Policy, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Employee Benefits Security Administration, and the Bureau of International Labor Affairs.

A separate Feb. 25 memo reviewed by Bloomberg Law outlined plans to cut 90 percent of the DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

The returning DOL workers join thousands of Agriculture Department probationary staff temporarily reinstated by the Merit Systems Protection Board, which mediates disputes between federal agencies and their employers. The board found reasonable grounds to believe the agency violated civil service laws when it fired those employees.

MSPB also moved last month to temporarily reinstate six other probationary federal workers, and is weighing similar cases involving terminated employees at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Department of Interior, Veterans Affairs, Department of Homeland Security, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Federal worker unions have also challenged the firings of probationary employees at some agencies in court, scoring an early win last week.