On March 13, U.S federal Judge James Bredar issued an order requiring the Trump administration reinstate thousands of probationary federal employees recently fired as part of government downsizing. The reinstatement order applies across 18 agencies including the Department of Commerce, which administers the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA, which had already fired roughly 800 workers, was also directed to terminate an additional 1,029 employees. It’s “an oddly specific number,” Richard Spinrad, the previous NOAA administrator, told Mongabay in a call. The original firings claimed without evidence that many workers were let go due to poor performance. Federal Judge William Alsup described those terminations in other agencies as “a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements.” The Trump Administration then announced a second round of terminations, called a reduction in force (RIF), which would be carried out by agency managers. As part of his order, Judge Bredar has also temporarily restrained the government from enforcing any RIFs across 18 agencies. Typically, before a RIF, managers are given guidance about a shift in policy that necessitates a change in staff. However, with this RIF, “there was really no guidance. They were given a number and told, ‘Bring back a list that has 1,029 positions on it,’” Spinrad said. NOAA typically employs roughly 12,000 people who collect and analyze data from the depths of the oceans to outer space and everywhere in between. They provide extreme weather data for people in the path of a hurricane and monitor fisheries…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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