A federal board has delayed the termination of roughly 6,000 USDA probationary employees purged in a mass firing by the new presidential administration, and ordered them to be restored to their positions.

The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, which oversees employee appeals, issued the 45-day stay order March 5.

The order will remain in effect until April 18 and the USDA has five working days to show the clerk of the board that it has complied with its terms.

Any extension of the stay must be received by the board on or before April 3.

Prohibited personnel practice

The Office of Special Counsel had requested the stay order on behalf of “John Doe” and numerous other individuals who were employed by the USDA and terminated during their probationary periods since Feb. 13.

According to OSC, tabling the firings will minimize negative consequences of “the apparent prohibited personnel practice,” while it investigates the allegations and the agency’s systematic mass firing of probationary employees.

The firings were based on letters sent to workers stating that based on their performance, they have not demonstrated that their further employment would be in the public interest, court paperwork states.

The USDA provided documentation to OSC that it had terminated 5,950 probationary employees as of Feb. 18, but the agency cautioned that this number was still in flux due to corrections, rehirings and changes to mission-critical designations, according to court paperwork.

John Doe background

The anonymous petitioner in the case is a forestry technician who said he only received positive feedback about his job performance, was never counseled or disciplined and was given no indication that he had performance or conduct problems.

He received a “fully successful” performance appraisal Jan. 15.

Evidence indicates that John Doe’s supervisor would have recommended that he be retained, according to court paperwork.

Reduction in force

The OSC claims that there are reasonable grounds to believe the USDA terminated probationary employees not to eliminate poor performers, but instead as part of a reorganization that required the use of reduction in force procedures. Those RIF regulations were circumvented, the OSC argues.

Evidence includes Office of Personnel Management Guidance, a Feb. 11 executive order from President Donald Trump, documents and interviews with USDA officials, public statements and the mass termination notices.