Commerce Department employees laid off because of their probationary status are being reinstated and put on administrative leave, according to a letter from the department’s acting general counsel.
The move follows a March 13 temporary restraining order issued by the U.S. District Court in Maryland, which temporarily pauses the termination of certain employees, including those who worked at Commerce, by the Trump administration. That includes hundreds of probationary employees at Commerce’s largest agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Bloomberg Government obtained the previously unreported March 17 letter, which Commerce Acting General Counsel John K. Guenther sent to affected employees. ...