This post first appeared on Federal News Network. Read the original article.
The IRS will bring previously fired probationary employees back to work later this month.
Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause said in a call Wednesday that the agency will give these employees the option to return to their jobs by April 14 — the day before the tax filing season deadline — according to IRS employees familiar with the call.
The IRS also sent an email Wednesday afternoon, notifying the approximately 7,000 probationary employees it recently fired.
“You are receiving this email as one of approximately 7,000 probationary employees who were separated from service and have been reinstated in compliance with recent court orders,” the email states. “At this time, while you remain on administrative leave, you will soon receive instructions for how to return on full-time duty by April 14.”
The agency recently reinstated these probationary employees to comply with rulings from federal judges, but put them on paid administrative leave, rather than bring them back to work.
The IRS says employees who choose to return to their jobs will soon be given instructions on obtaining a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card, IT equipment and workspace assignments.
The agency says it will also allow “temporary telework” for reinstated employees in cases “where space is not available.”
“If you wish to not return and voluntarily resign from federal service, you should send an email to Separation@IRS.gov as soon as possible. Please know that outside employment does not necessarily prevent you from returning to work. If you have secured outside employment and wish to continue with the outside employment while re-employed with the IRS, you must submit an outside employment request to your manager,” the email states.
The agency fired thousands of probationary employees in February. But federal judges, in two separate rulings, ordered the Treasury Department and several other agencies to rehire probationary employees — on the grounds that the Office of Personnel Management unlawfully coordinated these firings governmentwide.
Last month, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup in California directed six agencies, including the Treasury Department, to immediately reinstate probationary employees fired en masse in mid-February.
Alsup, in a follow-up ruling, said agencies that put employees on paid administrative leave, but not returning them to their jobs, were not complying with his preliminary injunction.
“The Court has read news reports that, in at least one agency, probationary employees are
being rehired but then placed on administrative leave en masse. This is not allowed by the
preliminary injunction, for it would not restore the services the preliminary injunction intends
to restore,” Alsup wrote on March 18.
Unions leading the lawsuit are calling on the judge to hold agencies in contempt, if they do not bring employees back to work as instructed.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge James Bredar in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction, mandating 17 agencies rehire probationary employees living or working in 19 states and the District of Columbia. That’s a narrowing of a ruling he made last month, requiring a nationwide reinstatement of probationary employees fired from those 17 agencies.
Many former IRS employees fired during their probationary periods received an email in mid-March, telling them they’ve been placed on paid administrative leave — but none have returned to their jobs yet.
Several reinstated employees told Federal News Network they consider the administrative leave as an opportunity to keep receiving a paycheck while searching for another job.
IRS probationary employees said they’re concerned about the possibility of getting their jobs back, only to be fired again soon.
The agency is looking at further workforce cuts through a reduction in force (RIF) on May 15, after the tax filing season deadline. The scope of the next wave of IRS terminations is unclear.
The Associated Press previously reported the agency is planning to cut up to half its workforce, but more recent reporting suggests the IRS is planning to cut about 20% of its employees. The IRS got more than halfway to meeting that latter goal.
An IRS official told Federal News Network that between OPM’s “deferred resignation” offer and the firing of probationary employees, the agency cut approximately 11,000 to 12,000 employees from its workforce — about 11 to 12% of its total workforce, as of September 2024.
The Professional Managers Association, which represents IRS managers, warned further workforce cuts would undo many of the agency’s recent customer service improvements.
PMA Executive Director Kelley Reyes told reporters in March that the IRS “cannot afford to lose the experienced and specialized people that they have developed.”
Jeff Eppler, a former IRS manager who retired at the end of 2023, said tax bureau workforce cuts have only had “minor impacts” on the filing season so far. But more staff cuts in mid-May would hurt customer service for taxpayers who request an extension to file their tax returns by Oct. 15.
After the filing season deadline, IRS employees are still at work going through submitted tax returns to address any errors.
The post IRS will bring fired probationary employees back to work by mid-April first appeared on Federal News Network.