USDA says it will reinstate fired probationary workers by Wednesday deadline

By Leah Douglas

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture will comply with the Wednesday deadline issued by a federal board to temporarily reinstate its fired probationary employees, according to an agency statement.

The Merit Systems Protection Board, an agency that hears appeals from federal employees when they are fired or disciplined, on March 5 told the USDA that it must temporarily reinstate nearly 6,000 probationary workers who were fired as part of President Donald Trump's cuts to the federal workforce.

The order required the workers to be reinstated for 45 days.

"By Wednesday, March 12, the Department will place all terminated probationary employees in pay status and provide each with back pay, from the date of termination," the statement said.

"The Department will work quickly to develop a phased plan for return-to-duty, and while those plans materialize, all probationary employees will be paid," it said.

More than half of the fired workers were in the Forest Service, a USDA agency that manages national forests and responds to wildfires.

Federal agencies are required this week to submit plans to further reduce staffing.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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