Workers at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration this week experienced a kind of whiplash as the federal government tried to reinstate probationary employees who had been fired.
More than 600 NOAA workers were laid off more than two weeks ago, including some in public safety roles, such as scientists who issue tsunami alerts, hurricane-hunting flight directors and meteorologists in local forecast offices.
But Thursday, a U.S. district judge in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order, blocking (at least temporarily) the terminations of tens of thousands of workers across agencies and ordering them to be reinstated. The Trump administration said in court Monday that it had moved to reinstate about 24,000 workers affected by the widespread cuts to the federal government’s probationary workforce. (Probationary workers are typically in their first or second years of federal service, but the status also applies to some employees who were recently promoted or hired full-time after having worked as contractors.)
In a court filing, the Commerce Department confirmed that it had reinstated 791 workers, in total, across its agencies, including NOAA.
The reinstatements have added a new layer of confusion at NOAA, which had already halted several services because of staffing issues following the cuts. They included weather balloon launches in Albany, New York; Gray, Maine; and Kotzebue, Alaska, that are critical to support accurate forecasting. The agency also closed several offices.
The cuts came just weeks before a severe storm raced across the country, spawning tornadoes and killing at least 42 people. The National Weather Service, a division of NOAA, forecast the storm, issuing public alerts that it would be a “particularly dangerous event.”
Although the probationary workers at NOAA have technically been reinstated, they were placed on administrative leave and have not been asked to return to work. So it is not immediately clear whether the services they previously contributed to would be restored.
The NOAA press office directed questions to the Commerce Department, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Andy Hazelton, a hurricane modeling specialist with a doctorate who was laid off late last month, said he received an email Monday with a memorandum confirming he had been reinstated following the court action.
“You will be reinstated to the Federal service and your previous position of record, retroactive to the effective date of your termination, and placed in a paid, non-duty status,” the memo said, adding that the situation would remain that way until the court case concludes or the department takes further action.
It offered few additional details, except that the Commerce Department “may revert your prior termination action to its original effective date” if a higher court invalidates the restraining order or if the department ultimately wins in court.
Hazelton said that as of Monday, he had received no additional communication and remained unsure whether he would receive back pay or eventually return to his duties.
The email brought temporary relief, he said, but confusion remains because he has also heard rumors that there may be additional cuts to the NOAA workforce through a reduction in force, or RIF.
“I’m glad it might be a step toward getting our jobs back, but it’s still not clear it’s going to be permanent, and there’s still rumors about RIFs,” Hazelton said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty and more questions than answers.”
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Indeed, rumors have circulated widely about possible layoffs at NOAA. At a news conference last week held by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a member of the Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce and other programs, Rick Spinrad, the NOAA administrator during President Joe Biden’s administration, made some details of those rumors public.
“NOAA was forced to identify an additional 1,029 positions” for potential termination, Spinrad said, adding that he had been told about the potential cuts by former colleagues still at the agency.
Dennis Jaszka, who worked as an investigative support technician for NOAA’s office of law enforcement before he was laid off, said he received an identical email to Hazelton’s.
Jaszka, 49, said he now feels “in complete limbo.”
He resents the implication that government workers are a drain on taxpayer resources and the statements President Donald Trump has made suggesting that they do not do good work, or any work at all.
“It took me a lot of time to get this job, and then I finally get it, and then this administration comes in and says, basically, ‘You government workers are cockroaches.’ That’s not what they said, but it’s kind of the idea: ‘You just steal our tax money and you don’t do anything,’” Jaszka said.
Now, after the court order, Jaszka pointed out, the government has instructed him outright not to report to duty.
“‘We’re also willing to pay you not to come to work at all.’ It’s ridiculous,” he said. “Me and a lot of other people love our jobs. We came in believing in the mission of NOAA.”
In a court filing, the Commerce Department said it did not ask employees to return to full duty because that would be a burden on the agency and cause turmoil for terminated employees.
“All employees offered reinstatement into full duty status would have to be onboarded again, including going through any applicable training, filling out human resources paperwork, obtaining new security badges, re-enrolling in benefits programs and payroll, reinstituting applicable security clearance actions, receiving government furnished equipment, and other requisite administrative actions,” Jessica Palatka, the department’s chief human capital officer, wrote in a court filing.
She added that an appellate court could also reverse the decision and leave employees “subjected to multiple changes in their employment status in a matter of weeks.”
