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As the Defense Department works to comply with a judge’s order to reinstate probationary employees, some workers are still waiting for further instructions on their first day back, while others say they have received no information about possible reinstatement.
A court filing Wednesday showed the Defense Department had terminated 365 employees since mid-February after the Office of Personnel Management instructed federal agencies to submit lists of probationary employees reminding them that they’re the easiest to remove from federal service.
On March 13, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in Northern California ordered six federal agencies to bring back employees, calling the mass firings a “sham.” Since then, the Pentagon has directed military services and components to offer reinstatement or revoke pending termination notices for probationary employees. So far, 65 workers have been reinstated.
In the Wednesday filing, Tim Dill, who is performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs, said previously terminated employees who have been reinstated are being placed on administrative leave starting from the date they were terminated until they complete the onboarding process to fully return to their jobs.
“The placement of former employees on administrative leave is the first in a series of steps to reinstate probationary employees. The onboarding process will include training, completing human resources, paperwork, obtaining new security badges and re-enrolling in benefits programs,” Dill wrote in his declaration to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
A Defense Health Agency employee placed on administrative leave during the first round of firings received a reinstatement letter Tuesday morning instructing her to return to work on March 24.
The letter was followed by a “notice of rescission of termination during probation period and return to work” sent on Friday morning, instructing her to acknowledge the receipt of the document.
“DHA is rescinding the notification of termination during the probationary period issued to employees. You will not be terminated. You are directed to return to work on Monday, March 24, 2025,” the memo states.
She’s still in the dark about how to return to work — no instructions have been provided by the agency regarding reporting procedures or the next steps.
Even after being reinstated, she said she doesn’t feel like she’s out of the woods yet.
The Defense Department plans to cut up to 60,000 civilian jobs — and a senior defense official said Tuesday the removal of probationary employees is just one of several mechanisms to reduce the workforce.
The DoD is already offering other strategies, like voluntary early retirement authority (VERA) and voluntary separation incentive payment (VSIP) to find employees who will voluntarily leave before a reduction in force takes place.
The DHA, for instance, has already offered VERA options to eligible employees.
Another former probationary DoD employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, is still in limbo — he has been in contact with his supervisor who believes he should be reinstated, but he hasn’t received anything regarding his possible reinstatement, nor has he heard of anyone else within the agency being brought back.
Since his termination from the DoD, he’s already interviewed for several job roles on the contracting side and has received multiple contingent offers. But a recently implemented government-wide hiring freeze has stalled the process.
“Even if a company wants to move quickly so they can have me start sooner, they cannot because they have to request an exemption and it is unknown how long that time takes,” he told Federal News Network.
“Essentially it seems that not only was I laid off without notice, it appears I won’t be able to find new employment in the immediate future due to the hiring restrictions the government has implemented.”
On Feb. 21, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that approximately 5,400 probationary employees would be laid off.
While he emphasized that poor performance would be the primary factor in determining who would be let go, Federal News Network reported that top performers and employees without performance evaluations have been among those terminated since the mass firings began.
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email anastasia.obis@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at (301) 830-2747
The post DoD works to reinstate fired probationary employees, many still await answers first appeared on Federal News Network.