This is a developing story.
An independent federal board on Wednesday ordered the temporary reinstatement of nearly 6,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture employees, including those with the U.S. Forest Service, who were fired last month as part of the Trump administration’s mass downsizing of the federal workforce.
However, an employee at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center who was among those whose job was eliminated said Thursday morning she has heard nothing so far from officials at the agency about the order or being reinstated. The center was downsized to two employees in the firings that began Feb. 13, raising questions about how the facility at Juneau’s most popular tourist attraction would operate this summer when 19 employees were scheduled to work there.
The Merit System Protection Board, which reviews firings of federal employees, ordered the USDA to reinstate fired probationary employees for 45 days while a challenge to the terminations plays out, according to Reuters. Attorneys representing the fired workers say the USDA has five days to implement the order.
Some other firings and funding cuts by the Trump administration have also been put on hold, although judges and congressional members have said it appears some of those orders are not being complied with.
Reuters said more than 20,000 probationary federal workers — who generally are relatively new and without civil service protections — have been fired so far. Trump administration officials have said the probationary worker firings are the first round of a much bigger planned sizing that could cut some agency workforces in half and eliminate some departments altogether.
A monthly U.S. jobs report shows there were 62,242 announced cuts across 17 federal agencies in February, CNN reported.
The USDA and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the news agency.
Isabel Dziak, a ranger at the glacier visitor center since 2019, said in an interview Thursday morning she’s seen news coverage about Wednesday’s order to reinstate USDA workers, but heard nothing official from her employer yet.
“I’m just waiting on word, still kind of trying to fit life back together after everything,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of other concerns, obviously, when it comes to paying bills and getting food on the table and health care.”
Dziak said she is open to returning to work if an offer is made.
“I never wanted to leave my job in the first place,” she said. “So if they were to offer it of course I would love to come back, but I have bills to pay and I can’t wait around for things to materialize a week from now or four months from now.”
At the same time, “there is a big trust loss, obviously, when it comes to the stability that I felt with my job,” Dziak said.
“I would love to get back to doing that work, but (there’s) the reality of ‘do I go back and then a month later I’m kicked back out again, and I’m starting back from square one?’” she said. “It’s hard, so I’m just taking time.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
