Thousands of USDA Staff Temporarily Rehired by Appeals Panel (1)

Thousands of Department of Agriculture employees terminated under the Trump administration will return to their positions for now, after an independent commission said their firing broke the laws that shield career staff from political influence.

The Merit Systems Protection Board, which mediates disputes between federal agencies and their employees, found reasonable grounds to believe that the Agriculture Department violated civil service laws when it dismissed new hires, known as probationary employees.

The board directed the USDA to temporarily reinstate probationary employees fired since Feb. 13 due to “performance” while the Office of Special Counsel investigates their firings. OSC estimates that the order will apply to more than 5,000 USDA workers.

Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger said other agencies should reinstate federal workers similarly terminated.

“I am calling on all federal agencies to voluntarily and immediately rescind any unlawful terminations of probationary employees,” Dellinger said in a statement.

USDA must reinstate the employees through April 18, the MSPB said.

The Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s HR division, declined to comment on the order.

The order is the latest in a series of rulings from the MSPB temporarily reinstating federal employees fired by the Trump administration. The order is nonprecedential, meaning the board and administrative judges aren’t required to follow it in future cases.

Dellinger said he plans to ask the MSPB to reinstate fired employees from other departments.

MSPB Chair Cathy Harris signed the order. Harris is separately pushing back against her own firing. The US District Court for the District of Columbia said Tuesday night that Harris can stay in her job until 2028, the end of her term. The Trump administration is appealing that ruling.