More than 130 probationary employees fired last month from the nation’s top cyber defense agency will be reinstated Monday, after the Trump administration scrambled to comply with a sweeping court order issued last week.
The employees — all of whom were hired or promoted within the past three years — won’t immediately return to the office, but instead will be placed on paid administrative leave.
Maryland U.S. District Judge James Bredar on Thursday demanded the Trump administration reinstate the probationary employees it initially terminated if they were part of the mass firing, though he did not ban the government from lawfully terminating probationary employees under a reduction in force or for cause.
In an email sent Sunday night and obtained by CBS News, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, informed the workers that their employment has been restored at the pay rate they had before they were terminated.
“Upon reinstatement, your pay and benefits will restart, and all requirements of federal employment will be applicable including your ethical obligations,” the email read. “If you do not wish to be reinstated, please respond with a written statement declining to be reinstated as quickly as possible. Nothing in this process implicates your ability to voluntarily resign.”
Judge Bredar ordered probationary employees at 18 federal agencies to be reinstated by March 17, either to their jobs or to be placed on administrative leave. The temporary restraining order directed the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, General Services Administration, Small Business Administration and U.S. Agency for International Development to rejoin fired federal workers to the payroll.
On Monday morning, CISA posted a message on its home page noting it is “making every effort to individually contact all impacted individuals,” but added that fired employees who believe they fall under the Court’s order should contact the agency.
Over 4% of CISA’s workforce were fired en masse, an event known as the “Valentine’s Day Massacre” by employees. A form-letter email previously informed employees they were “not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs.”
Among those impacted were the nation’s threat hunters, incident response team members, disabled veterans and employees who’d already signed onto the federal government’s deferred resignation program.
The cuts also decimated many of the agency’s top recruits, enlisted through a program known as the Cyber Talent Management System, plus analysts with top-secret security clearances.
It remains unclear if the agency plans to offer backpay to those previously removed. Complicating their reinstatement, several of the previously fired CISA employees told CBS News they had already been instructed to return their laptops and equipment to the agency. Others said they do not expect to be required to physically return to the office.
The temporary restraining order is set to expire March 27 at 8 p.m., unless the court acts to extend it.
CBS News has reached out to both CISA and DHS for comment.
