After firing thousands of federal workers in mid-February, the Trump Administration restored some jobs over the weekend. Meanwhile, other federal workers await their fate after Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), demanded an email from each employee before midnight tonight outlining “five accomplishments” of their work last week.
One WNC resident who was terminated in the massive layoffs in mid-February was reinstated over the weekend.
Mike Knoerr, the only wildlife biologist in the Pisgah National Forest, posted that he had received an email “rescinding” his termination because it was “identified as Mission Critical.” He said he would return to work today.
Knoerr previously posted on Facebook that he was terminated from his position.
“I was fired from my dream job today (along with 3400 other FS staff). A job that I worked over 20 years to achieve. A job that would never get me rich, but one that I truly believed in,” Knoerr wrote on Feb. 14.
In a post on Sunday, he shared his gratitude for public support.
“I am deeply thankful to the outpouring of support from all of you. Your voice was important. Your humanity is something I’ll never forget,” Knoerr said in the post.
Knoerr said he would not be able to comment on the move. It remains unclear how many Forest Service employees have been reinstated.
The Associated Press reported at least 50 jobs within the Park Service were said to have been restored. These positions include employees who help maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and collect admission fees.
More terminations on the horizon?
The news of reinstatement comes as a potential new round of terminations looms. The Trump administration sent emails on Saturday night to thousands of federal employees who were asked to share five accomplishments with the Office of Personnel Management(OPM) by Monday at 11:59 EST from the previous week or face termination.
Some federal agencies advised workers not to respond while others, like the U.S. Department of Transportation, told workers they should respond to the email, according to Reuters.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks along with nine other organizations filed a lawsuit calling the terminations “illegal.”
AFGE, the largest federal employee union, represents more than 800,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia, according to its website.
The complaint, filed last week and amended yesterday, demands that the OPM’s new programs to “terminate probationary employees” and “requiring federal employees to report to OPM” be considered unlawful. The filing also calls on the court to “rescind the prior unlawful terminations of probationary employees” and to “take no action against any employee who fails to respond to OPM’s instructions to report.”
The group said the action is the first lawsuit to target the “illegal demand that federal employees enumerate five accomplishments of the previous week.”
“By allowing the unelected and unhinged Elon Musk to dictate OPM’s actions, you have demonstrated a lack of regard for the integrity of federal employees and their critical work…” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a Feb. 24 letter to U.S. Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Charles Ezell. “This request, and the resulting confusion, is not just inappropriate – it is disruptive to essential government functions.”
In a follow up notice later on Sunday, Kelley advised federal workers to comply with “any directive that has come from your agency.” Kelley specified that if federal workers are on leave they should not be obligated to respond to the email.
Kelley confirmed with BPR just before 2pm on Monday that OPM had not responded to the letter. He said he was “still hopeful” that AFGE would receive a response.
“The letter that they sent out is very vague. It is not conclusive and it doesn’t leave anyone with any real directions,” Kelley said. Many of the employees who received the letter do not report to OPM but instead to the other federal agencies where they were hired, he said.
