Nearly 25,000 Newer Workers Fired Under Trump: Agencies

Eighteen agencies provided the number of terminated workers in sworn declarations filed in federal court following orders to reinstate the terminated workers.

The entrance to the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building that houses the Office of Personnel Management headquarters in Washington on June 5, 2021. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Federal agencies have fired nearly 25,000 newer workers, officials said in court filings. It is the first time many of them have provided official termination numbers.

Eighteen agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, started terminating workers after President Donald Trump took office, and the Office of Personnel Management directed officials to fire probationary workers who were not critical to agency missions. Many did not disclose the number of workers that were terminated.

Federal judges on March 13 ordered them to reinstate terminated workers, finding that the government likely violated personnel rules because no advance notice was provided before the mass layoffs.

U.S. District Judge James Bredar, one of the judges, said the reinstatements must happen before March 17 and directed officials to file a status report documenting how they have complied with his order.

In sworn declarations, officials at each of the agencies recounted how many probationary workers were fired and how officials have approached reinstating them.

The declarations showed that agencies in total terminated 24,805 workers. Many of the terminations took place in February, although some occurred in January or March.

The Department of the Treasury fired the most workers, 7,605, followed by the Department of Agriculture, which laid off 5,714 newer employees.

The totals provided are:

• Department of the Treasury: 7,605
• Department of Agriculture: 5,714
• Department of Health and Human Services: 3,248
• Department of Veterans Affairs: 1,900
• Department of the Interior: 1,712
• Department of Commerce: 791
• Department of Transportation: 788
• Department of Energy: 555
• Environmental Protection Agency: 419
• General Services Administration: 366
• Department of Homeland Security: 313
• Department of Housing and Urban Development: 312
• Small Business Administration: 304
• U.S. Agency for International Development: 270
• Department of Labor: 170
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: 156
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: 117
• Department of Education: 65

Officials told the court that they received a memorandum from the Office of Personnel Management on Jan. 20 stating that “agencies should identify all employees on probationary periods” and “should promptly determine whether those employees should be retained at the agency.”

The memo and follow-up guidance led to one of the orders because a judge said the office does not have the authority to fire employees of other agencies. The office stated in a revised version of the document that it was “not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees.”

The officials said in the declarations that reinstating terminated employees would cause confusion and turmoil because they would have to go through training, fill out paperwork, and reenroll in payroll and benefits programs.

The officials also said an appeals court could reverse the reinstatements before they are completed.

The officials told the judge that the agencies had begun the ordered reinstatements. Some have reinstated all terminated probationary employees, while others were not able to complete the reinstatements by the deadline because of system malfunctions or other issues.

The declarations “demonstrate ... compliance” with the temporary restraining order, government lawyers told Bredar.

In the other case, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said on March 17 that he had learned that at least one agency reinstated probationary workers only to place them on administrative leave.

“This is not allowed by the preliminary injunction, for it would not restore the services the preliminary injunction intends to restore,” Alsup said.

He ordered government officials to tell him which rehired probationary employees had been placed on administrative leave, with a deadline of noon on March 18.