Rehired probationary workers can't be placed on administrative leave, judge says

A federal judge told the Trump administration late Monday that fired probationary workers must be returned to their old jobs, not just placed on administrative leave, as many departments have been doing.

California-based U.S. District Judge William Alsup previously ordered the Trump administration to return the fired workers to their posts, writing Monday that simply placing them on administrative leave flouted his earlier order.

“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,” he wrote in a brief order.

Probationary workers, those hired within the last year or two depending on the agency, have scored numerous court victories ordering them returned to their jobs after the Office of Personnel Management directed that they be fired last month.

The Hill reported Monday that employees at both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Commerce were returned to work “mostly in an administrative leave status” where they remain on the payroll but perform no duties.

In a separate case related to probationary workers, the Trump administration affirmed it had fired some 24,000 federal employees still in their probationary period.

In more than a dozen declarations filed by the government Monday night, officials at the agencies said most reinstated workers were placed on paid administrative leave, though some have been returned to full employment.

Judges in multiple cases have temporarily blocked the Trump administration from firing probationary workers.

While probationary workers do not have the full slate of protection as more tenured federal workers, they may still only be fired for cause. The scores of fired workers were told they were fired for performance reasons, but their attorneys have argued the lack of individual assessments show the Trump administration is using the process for mass layoffs.

Updated at 10:34 a.m. EDT

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