The probationary employees fired from Peoria’s largest federal employer earlier this year are almost all back on the job.
Nineteen employees with probationary status were fired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in February. The facility is commonly called the Peoria Ag Lab.
In federal workplaces, probationary status means a time period of approximately 1-3 years during which new hires, transfers and promotions are consistently monitored and evaluated.
The terminations were part of sweeping efforts from the Trump Administration and the Elon Musk-advised Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE]. Officials say the terminations aimed to eliminate fraud and bloat, while making government agencies more efficient or reducing their relevance.
Ethan Roberts is union president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3247, which represents dozens of Ag Lab staff. He says around 15 of the 19 fired employees were back to work at the lab Wednesday. The rest either have their notices and are processing them, or are taking a deferred start offered by the Ag Lab.
“They went right back to work, like they just came in and started doing what they were doing a month ago, before they were terminated, taking their projects back over,” said Roberts. “I have to hand it to the administration here. They had everything ready to go for them.”
The reinstatement of the employees is a result of a handful of court rulings around the country. First, an internal government board placed a stay on the firings. Then, federal judges found in favor of plaintiff groups representing the fired employees and ordered thousands of them reinstated across six federal agencies.
Roberts says the decisions affirm to him the importance of federal employees’ work.
“The judges understand how important it is, in their decisions they directed the agencies to restore the function of the agency,” he said. “They were very explicit about that, that they wanted these people back to work as soon as possible.”
The district court rulings also instructed the administration to follow an established federal Reduction in Force [RIF] procedures for any future downsizing of government agencies.
The Trump administration has filed an emergency application for a stay on the district court’s injunction with the U.S. Supreme Court. A decision on that application is pending.
“I don’t know what would happen if [the stay] were granted. I don’t know if these people would be re-terminated or if they’d be put back on administrative leave while the Supreme Court decides the case,” said Roberts.
For now, Roberts says the atmosphere is “joyous” at the Ag Lab as colleagues reunite and await further court decisions.
