“ The National Science Foundation (NSF) today reinstated all but two of the 86 full-time employees with probationary status it had fired on 18 February as part of a White House–ordered purge of government workers across dozens of federal agencies. Not affected by NSF’s action, however, are some 84 part-time scientific “experts” who were dismissed at the same time.
NSF’s announcement today comes after a federal judge last Thursday told the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to rescind its directive to agencies to fire all recently hired workers, called probationary employees. On Friday, NSF received guidance from OPM to bring back some 30 probationary workers who were veterans, military spouses, or those with disabilities. But today’s move expanded the recall further.
