Eighteen agencies provided the number of terminated workers in sworn declarations filed in federal court following orders to reinstate the terminated workers.
Federal agencies fired nearly 25,000 newer workers, officials said in court filings. It’s the first time many of them have provided official termination numbers.
Eighteen agencies, including the U.S. 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’ve 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, though some occurred in January or March.
The U.S. Department of Treasury fired the most workers, 7,605, followed by the U.S. 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 that said that “agencies should identify all employees on probationary periods” and “should promptly determine whether those employees should be retained at the agency.”
