Court filing offers insight into DOD’s probationary workforce kerfuffle after firings

More than 350 probationary employees were terminated from their jobs at the Pentagon — or informed that they would be — since mid-February, according to a document the Defense Department submitted to a federal court on Wednesday. Now, dozens of those individuals are in the process of being hired back on, in compliance with a court order finding those Trump administration-led terminations were likely unlawful.

Questions have swirled inside the DOD since President Donald Trump directed all federal agencies to dramatically shrink their civilian workforces early into his second administration. 

Those efforts began with actions by multiple agencies across the federal government to fire recently hired or promoted workers who are in a trial period known as probationary status. Several recent legal decisions, however, have reversed those terminations — at least temporarily. The decisions include an order from a Baltimore-based federal district judge affecting 18 federal agencies and another from a San Francisco-based federal district judge affecting six agencies, including DOD.  

Although it’s not a definitive number of all probationary employees separated from DOD to date, a new declaration filed in the case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California sheds light on some of the early impacts defense personnel are experiencing as a result of Trump’s order. 

In the filing, Timothy Dill — the official performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs — revealed DOD records indicate that since Feb. 13, the department “separated, or notified of termination, 364 probationary employees in light of recent” guidance from the Office of Personnel Management.

Since then, the Pentagon “directed DOD military departments and components to offer reinstatement or revoke pending termination notices for these employees,” he noted. The department started a process to rehire roughly 65 employees, so far.

“The remainder are pending notification, declined to accept the offer of reinstatement, or requested additional time to consider the offer,” Dill wrote.

This declaration came after Judge William Alsup requested information from the government about placing reinstated probationary employees on administrative leave. 

Alsup cited “news reports” that at least one agency had placed reinstated staff on administrative leave, and said that was “not allowed by the preliminary injunction.” He later followed up that request, noting that the documents the government provided showing compliance with an order from the District of Maryland didn’t include DOD, and asked for an update from the Pentagon.

In the declaration, Dill confirmed that staff being reinstated are being placed on administrative leave from the time of their termination until they complete appropriate onboarding procedures. Those with pending statuses will remain on administrative leave until a decision is made about their future.

That process appears to reflect a similar approach being taken at other agencies. In the declarations provided in the District of Maryland case, most of the 18 agencies said they were placing reinstated workers on administrative leave.

In a response Thursday, the unions and other organizations that brought the Northern District of California case argued that the information the government provided — including the statement from DOD — doesn’t show compliance with the preliminary injunction.

Specifically, the plaintiffs said the government falls short “by failing to communicate the information ordered by the Court; and by placing previously-terminated employees back only on ‘administrative leave’ rather than returning to service.”

The plaintiffs include AFL-CIO affiliates the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Main Street Alliance, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, and other groups.

In an off-camera press briefing Tuesday, two senior defense officials noted that removing probationary employees is one of three primary mechanisms DOD is applying to carry out its workforce reduction process across a pool of more than 900,000 employees. Originally, as part of the plan, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced aims for the department to part ways with about 5,400 probationary employees.

“The first removals of probationary employees were directly focused on employees that were documented as significantly underperforming in their job functions, and/or had misconduct on the record,” a senior defense official told reporters.

They also suggested that in recent weeks “there has been no other signal from the department on future intended removals of probationary employees.”

It remains unclear on Thursday where technology-aligned positions fall among the Trump administration’s priorities for what roles will be retained during their major workforce reduction effort. 

DefenseScoop sent requests for more information to spokespersons at DOD’s personnel and readiness directorate, Chief Information Office, Chief Digital and AI Office, Defense Innovation Unit, All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office and the Defense Information Systems Agency.

A communications official for the P&R directorate referred DefenseScoop to each of those individual offices for breakdowns of their probationary terminations and reinstatements. 

Spokespersons from the department’s CIO and DIU acknowledged the inquiries but haven’t yet provided responses. CDAO and AARO spokespersons declined to provide personnel numbers or share details about the impacts on their workforce.