SACRAMENTO, CA— Probationary federal employees fired as part of an effort to cut spending and waste will be rehired.
That will help Great Lakes fisheries, as seasonal workers are needed to combat sea lamprey infestations by spraying lampricide in streams. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission typically hires 25 to 30 workers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to perform that duty, but in February, about a dozen of those probationary employees were let go.
Representative Jack Bergman said he was contacted by constituents who were concerned that unchecked lamprey would wreak havoc on Great Lakes Fisheries. He reached out to the FWS and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to get clarity on whether those workers would be rehired.
On Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to halt a judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to rehire thousands of federal workers. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and Treasury to immediately offer job reinstatement to workers fired in mid-February.
