The IRS is reinstating thousands of recently fired probationary employees and placing them on administrative leave, according to an IRS email sent to these workers Monday.
The move comes after the US District Court for the District of Maryland last week ordered 18 federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, to reinstate by March 17 new hires who had been fired.
The reinstatement counteracts the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government. Officials at the Elon Musk-led group advising the administration want to cut the IRS by 20% by May 15. This includes those probationary employees who were fired and those who took the deferred-resignation offer.
About 7,400 new hires were told to not report to duty or perform any work until receiving further guidance, the email said. Those who have found a new job or want to voluntarily resign can contact the Employee Resource Center to process their resignation, the email said.
Narrowing the IRS workforce is expected to bring longer wait times and delayed refunds, and cause an uptick in taxpayers not paying what they owe, particularly wealthy taxpayers. The IRS over the past two years had been in a hiring spree after receiving tens of billions in funding from the 2022 tax-and-climate law to modernize, focus on tax cheats, and improve customer service.
If the district court modifies its order or issues a new order, the agency will take additional action, the email said.
“While placing these employees on paid administrative leave still deprives agencies of their service, it does allow these mistreated civil servants to continue to receive their pay and benefits as the legal battle continues,” Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a statement.
(Adds quote from union leader in the seventh paragraph.)
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