USDA Status Update on Probationary Employees

(Washington, D.C., March 11, 2025) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the following statement today regarding the status of probationary employees:

“On Wednesday, March 5, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a 45-day stay on the termination of U.S. Department of Agriculture probationary employees. 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 Department will work quickly to develop a phased plan for return-to-duty, and while those plans materialize, all probationary employees will be paid.”

Update, as of Wednesday, March 19, 2025:

On March 13, 2025, in the case of American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, et al. v. OPM, et al., Civil Action No. 3:25-cv-01780, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction and determined that USDA’s termination of probationary employees, on or about February 13, 2025 and February 14, 2025, was unlawful, although there are appeals pending. As part of a phased plan for the terminated probationary employees to return-to-duty, they have temporarily been placed on paid administrative leave. The probationary employees have been restored to the respective employment status they each held prior to their termination. USDA is paying each probationary employee any commensurate back pay, from the respective date of termination. USDA is acting diligently to complete the administrative steps related to notifying the probationary employees of their reinstatement, ascertaining whether some of the probationary employees choose to resign, processing the reinstatements for purposes of all relevant USDA record systems, and returning the reinstated employees to duty status.

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