The Pentagon is asking 364 fired probationary employees to come back

The Defense Department is complying with a judge’s order to reinstate probationary employees sent packing after the Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to fire them en masse, according to a Wednesday court filing.

The Pentagon had terminated 364 probationary staff since mid-February, the department’s interim deputy personnel director said in a response to a court request for information. So far, about 65 have been reinstated or had their termination notices rescinded.

“The remainder are pending notification, declined to accept the officer of reinstatement, or requested additional time to consider the offer,” Tim Dill wrote in his March 19 declaration to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Returning employees will initially be placed on administrative leave while they finish the onboarding process, according to the filing. 

The filing also says that the probationary employees were fired “in light of recent OPM guidance”—contradicting Dill’s boss, who declared in a March 3 memo that the department had independently decided to terminate probationary employees.

That memo came after the same judge ruled in late February that OPM does not have authority to order staff reductions in other agencies. 

A Defense official, who spoke to reporters on background Tuesday because he was not authorized to speak on the record, referred any questions about the status of probationary workers to the Justice Department, citing the ongoing lawsuit that drew the judge’s injunction.

“The first removals of probationary employees were directly focused on employees that were documented, and significantly underperforming in their job functions and or had misconduct on the record,” opening up the door for continued terminations, even amid litigation, the official said.

The official did not provide any details on what a second round of probationary firings would look like and how those would be determined. 

The department originally announced it was looking to fire about 5,400 probationary employees—generally, workers hired in the past year or two who therefore lack some civil-service protections, or people recently promoted or transferred between agencies, who retain the protections they earned in their previous jobs.

Eric Katz contributed to this report.