EPA’s probationary employees’ whirlwind year continues as they are back on the job this week after spending roughly nine months on administrative leave.
The staffers, who are generally in their first year of government service, have been rocked by the Trump administration. Starting in February, EPA fired them, reinstated them and then placed them on leave, sending them home with full pay and benefits.
They returned to work Monday after receiving a notice last month that they soon would be on duty again. EPA employees, granted anonymity because they fear retaliation, said uncertainty still looms over them as restructuring of the agency by President Donald Trump’s political appointees takes hold.
One agency staffer told POLITICO’s E&E News that the past year has been a “complete roller coaster” punctuated with “a lot of scrabbling.”
“I wish I just could walk away from it and be done, but I don’t want the Trump administration to win,” said the employee. “It has been a lot of they say, ‘Jump!’ and I say, ‘How high?’”
In response to questions, EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch said in a statement the agency “notified approximately 170 EPA employees who have been on administrative leave since February that they are to report to duty on December 8.”
“EPA values the work of all of our employees and we look forward to continuing to work with our entire workforce to protect human health and the environment and Power the Great American Comeback,” the agency spokesperson added.
That notice was an unsigned email sent Nov. 18 to probationary employees saying the agency was preparing to return them to “duty status” at EPA the following month. They also received a separate survey asking if they were available to work.
That was a shock to several after the agency pushed them out earlier in 2025.
On Valentine’s Day, the Trump administration conducted a governmentwide purge of trial-period staffers as it slashed the federal workforce. Probationary employees are essentially in a tryout period for a permanent job and have fewer protections against termination.
The administration’s mass firing was later found illegal in federal court.
“The terminations weren’t done with manager input. They were done all at the exact same time,” said a second EPA employee. “They were caught in a big lie, and they know they are trapped.”
EPA took part in the purge, terminating approximately 419 probationary employees between Feb. 14 and Feb. 21, according to a court declaration by Krysti Wells, then the director of the agency’s human capital operations office.
But then under a judge’s ruling, EPA began reinstating those trial-period workers. On March 16, the agency sent emails to the personal addresses of those affected by the mass firing to say their terminations had been rescinded.
Then, most of those employees were returned in “a paid administrative leave status” at EPA, Wells said in the court filing.
And that is where many remained, until the agency recalled them to work this month.
A third EPA employee said the only way they survived this year was to see their government position as just a job.
“If I saw it as more than a job, I would lose faith completely because it is so hard to operate under these conditions,” the employee said. “Sometimes, it does feel the mission has died.”
Recall ‘sent in error’
Other EPA employees, however, been subject to a snafu by the agency.
Some staffers, who were notified by EPA to return to work Dec. 8, got another email during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Your position has been identified as having DEI/EJ responsibilities and the agency is electing to keep you on administrative leave at this time,” that email said. Messages they received saying they would return to “a duty status” on Dec. 8 “were sent in error.”
“Apologies for any confusion the error may have caused,” the email said.
It’s not clear how many EPA employees were affected by the about-face. EPA didn’t provide those figures when asked for this story.
“Please note that EPA does not comment on individual personnel actions,” said Hirsch with EPA.
The second agency staffer said some environmental justice employees are not being allowed to transfer to other departments at EPA.
“They are being kept in limbo in various situations, which is wrong. They feel targeted,” the staffer said.
EPA also has corrected the record for those probationary employees once fired, as required under a separate court order.
Wells, now identified as EPA’s acting chief human capital officer, said in another court declaration that between Oct. 29 and 31, the agency sent notices to probationary employees who were fired in February.
“As required by Paragraph 5 of the district court’s order, EPA informs you that you were not terminated in February 2025 on the basis of your personal performance or conduct,” that letter said.
Now back at work, EPA’s probationary employees have found much has changed under the Trump administration.
EPA has closed environmental justice offices in its headquarters and regional branches while the Office of Research and Development has been broken up as scientific staff head elsewhere at the agency. Further, about 2,620 EPA employees have either left or will leave as part of the administration’s “deferred resignation” program.
Several suspect the downsizing is not done yet at EPA. More than two dozen agency staffers received “intent to RIF,” or reduction-in-force notices, during the federal government shutdown, which were also blocked in court.
The short-term spending patch that reopened agencies put federal layoffs on hold. But that deal expires Jan. 30, and agency employees worry they may be terminated again.
The first EPA employee said they felt they were “returning to work to be RIFed.”
“So come January, I could be fired again. I’m anxious about that,” they said.
Contact this reporter on Signal at KevinBogardus.89.
