A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to rehire probationary employees at six federal agencies, including USDA.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California ruled from the bench Thursday; a written opinion was not immediately available. His order applies to thousands of employees at six agencies. In addition to the Department of Agriculture, they include the departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy, Interior and Treasury.

News outlets reported that Alsup criticized the way the government has handled the matter. Notices received by employees cited their performance as the reason for their termination even when, in many cases, they had received good performance reviews.

“It is sad, a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” Alsup said in court Thursday, according to multiple news outlets.

According to lead plaintiff the American Federation of Government Employees, Alsup said agencies cannot terminate any more probationary employees.

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“The judge also forbade [the Office of Personnel Management] from giving any guidance to federal agencies on which employees should be terminated,” AFGE said. “The agencies also must provide a compliance report to the court. The judge also authorized depositions and ordered further briefing on whether the administrative channel for fired workers is actually available, or if it has been destroyed by firings of appeals board and Office of Special Counsel personnel.”

USDA had already been told by the Merit Systems Protection Board that it must “reinstate” nearly 6,000 probationary employees who, the MSPB judge said, had likely been fired illegally.

The department said Tuesday it would resume paying those employees and also give them back pay. 

The department did not, however, say they could return to their jobs. “The department will work quickly to develop a phased plan for return-to-duty, and while those plans materialize, all probationary employees will be paid,” USDA’s Tuesday statement said.

USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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