Washington — Probationary workers were among the first victims of President Trump’s second-term efforts to downsize the federal government. Mass firings across the federal government targeted thousands of them, but legal challenges over their termination have left them in an uneasy employment limbo after a pair of court rulings that cover employees at 20 agencies.
These are workers who are in their first year or two of federal service, depending on their position, although probationary workers can also include experienced U.S. government employees who recently started working in a new position, including through promotions, or at a different agency.
Sara Nelson, 50, was just two days away from the end of her probationary period, which started after she was hired in February 2024 at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA. She previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a different component of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Nelson, who lives in Georgia, managed multi-million-dollar nationwide campaigns to raise awareness of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Nelson said she loved the work she was doing and found it meaningful because it helped to connect Americans struggling with their mental health with a vital resource.
“Federal workers, the vast majority of us, are so dedicated to serving Americans, to serving our country,” she said. “We care about efficiencies in government. We’re often caught up in these bureaucratic traps as well, but we’re trying hard every day to bring 200%. The work of the government serves the American people.”
Nelson had received a positive performance review in January, she said, but the letter she got from the acting chief human capital officer at the Department of Health and Human Services stated that her “performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the agency.”
“It was totally unsettling,” she said of receiving the termination letter. “It’s hard to describe because you know your team loves you and wants to keep you. You know there is a huge need, and yet you’re being dismissed.”
Then, on March 18, Nelson received a brief, two-paragraph email from her agency informing her that she had been reinstated to her role. The notification came on the heels of two different court orders that required the administration to bring back probationary employees it had fired at more than a dozen agencies. The Justice Department has now asked the Supreme Court to lift one of those orders, covering more than 16,000 probationary workers at six agencies.
“HHS has canceled your separation from duty and you have been restored to duty in a paid Administrative Leave status through at least the end of this week. We will update you further once we have more information,” the message Nelson received to her personal email address read.
While the note included two email addresses to direct questions, Nelson said messages she sent about back pay have gone unanswered. She also has not received any further information about her position at SAMHSA since learning of her reinstatement, Nelson said.
SAMHSA was impacted by layoffs of up to 10,000 people at the Health and Human Services Department. Another 10,000 at the department took early retirement or voluntary separation officers.
While Mr. Trump and the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is leading the effort to shrink the size of the federal government, often speak of the need to root out waste at federal agencies, Nelson said there was never any assessment done within SAMHSA to pinpoint areas to improve efficiency.
“I can’t describe the level of stress and confusion about what’s happening,” she said. “We get the rug pulled out from under us multiple times. We’re trying to find other jobs. But it’s like, should I interview or might I get my old job back that I absolutely loved? But all we know at this point is we have to move forward.”
Court records have revealed that more than 24,500 federal workers who were in their probationary periods were fired in mid-February and have since been reinstated to comply with the judicial orders. Most of those employees have been put on administrative leave, agencies said, and whether they will be allowed to keep those jobs — and for how long — remains uncertain.
“They’re trying to extend the authority of the executive, and the authority of [the Office of Personnel Management] in a manner that is completely inconsistent with the law and with the way the civil service system is set up to work,” Michelle Bercovici, a lawyer at Alden Law Group who represents federal employees, said.
Bercovici said federal employees can be fired and held accountable for performance, but “you just have to follow the rules.”
Legal proceedings in the two cases involving the mass firings of government workers are ongoing, and on Tuesday, one of the judges issued a preliminary injunction that blocked terminations of probationary workers in 19 states and the District of Columbika, which sued over the removals.
The injunction from U.S. District Judge James Bredar effectively extends an earlier decision ordering reinstatements at 20 agencies, but only for workers in the states that sued.
Separate from the courts, some workers have found relief through the Merit Systems Protection Board, which reviews federal employee terminations.
Isabel Dziak, 30, is among U.S. Forest Service workers in Juneau, Alaska, who were laid off in February. She served as a lead ranger at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, a role that not only educates tourists but handles any medical emergencies and park safety. The park serves 25,000 visitors a day in peak season, according to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, with the first cruise ships of the year set to arrive next week.
Dziak said her team was gutted during government-wide probationary layoffs, and she was among the casualties because she was still in a probationary period, thanks to a promotion in 2023. She lost what she described as her dream job.
“I really showed up to my job every day, loving it and wanting to do the best and worked really hard to make a career for myself,” Dziak said. “Having it stolen in such an illegal way is just unfathomable.”
In late February, then-special counsel Hampton Dellinger filed a request with the Merit Systems Protection Board for a 45-day pause on the firings of roughly 6,000 probationary workers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which includes the Forest Service.
The board granted the stay early last month and ordered USDA employees to be reinstated to their positions.
Dellinger had made his request to the MSPB while he pursued litigation challenging his own firing by Mr. Trump. A federal appeals court allowed his removal on March 5, the day the board granted his request to pause the USDA workers’ firings. Dellinger has since dropped his case.
In an earlier statement, he said the Office of Special Counsel “requested this stay because the thousands of probationary terminations at USDA appear to have been carried out in a manner inconsistent with federal personnel laws.”
It’s unclear who is serving as the acting special counsel. A request for comment from the Office of Special Counsel was not returned, and that information is not available on the agency’s website. The acting special counsel would ask the MSPB to extend the pause on the firings of USDA workers that is set to expire on April 18.
Mr. Trump also fired a member of the MSPB, leaving it with one member, acting chairman Henry Kerner. Because Kerner is the sole member of the board, it lacks a quorum and cannot issue final decisions on petitions for review until it is restored.
“The fundamentals of the civil service system are directly under fire,” Bercovici said. “The processes are still moving along as they should, but the administration is targeting the tips of the spear, the critical chokepoints where decisions actually happen.”
The administration believes it will prevail as the cases work their way up to the Supreme Court, arguing the firings were within the administration’s authority to manage its internal affairs.
A senior administration official blamed the lower courts and “activist judges” for keeping probationary employees in limbo and claimed many employees have moved on. The administration hopes they seek employment in the private sector, the official said.
At the USDA, workers including Dziak have also received what was billed as a “second and final” deferred resignation offer, running through April 8.
A spokesman said the Agriculture Department is giving employees an opportunity “to take control of their next step in federal service before any changes take place.” Roughly 75,000 federal workers accepted an earlier offer from the Trump administration to leave their government positions but retain full pay and benefits until Sept. 30.
After weighing whether to take the new offer and wondering if she was even eligible, Dziak decided to accept it, though it’s pending approval from the agency. In the meantime, she says she’s received two paychecks, as part of the backpay ordered by the MSPB.
She said she was also asked about her interest in returning to work but is worried she could be fired in a future reduction-in-force.
A major factor for Dziak is having health insurance coverage and whether she would be able to keep her plan until September through the deferred resignation program, she said. If not, Dziak said she may have to go back on Medicaid.
“That’s kind of the sticky situation that I find myself in, plus the moral of do I want to take this essentially buyout,” she said. “Morally, I don’t want to be bought out from my job that I’ve been battling to keep and ultimately decided to walk away from because the work environment is just terrible.”
Dziak called the confusion surrounding what happens next for federal workers like her “disheartening.”
Alex, a National Park Service employee who works at a site in New York City, started his job in May 2024 and was working on programs for America’s 250th Birthday celebration next year.
Alex, who asked to be identified by his first name because he is still waiting to receive full back pay, said he was looking forward to educating park site visitors on the nation’s history. Expecting to receive a termination email on Valentine’s Day, when thousands of other probationary workers did, Alex said he left for the day after receiving no word from his agency.
But when he returned on Monday, Alex said he had an after-hours email from Feb. 14 saying he had been fired for performance reasons, even though his most recent performance review rated him as “fully successful.”
“My biggest concern was with my career,” he said. “The main reason I took this job was to advance my career in the federal government.”
Alex said he had been working toward a specific hiring designation for certain employees of a land management agency, which allows them to compete for permanent positions in the competitive service, and qualified for it after he was fired and then reinstated.
Like the other federal workers who were abruptly fired and then rehired, Alex said he received an email informing him that his termination had been canceled and cited his work on America’s 250th Birthday as the reason. But he hasn’t received any further guidance about benefits, and when he returned to his office, he didn’t have a computer or an access card for more than a week.
Alex said he still has several months on his lease in New York City but is applying now for other jobs, including as a state park ranger and at other federal agencies.
“Everyone is scared, and it puts a damper on working here,” he said. “It had been exciting, being in the big city working on these programs for the public, for the anniversary. Now, I just want to leave.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/probationary-workers-in-limbo-legal-battles-over-their-firings-continue/
