DOGE suffers biggest loss yet as thousands of probationary USDA employees ordered back to work

The chair of a quiet government agency secured the re-employment of nearly 6,000 fired federal workers for the next month and a half on Wednesday, just a day after her own firing was ruled illegal by a federal judge.

Cathy Harris struck what is likely the biggest blow so far to DOGE’s firing campaign on Wednesday, ruling that 5,600 probationary employees at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) were terminated in a move that may have violated federal procedures. Her ruling halts the firings for 45 days, while the Merit Systems Protection Board, which she chairs, reviews the firings.

It’s not a permanent victory for workers hoping to keep their jobs, but one that could become lasting if the Board rules that the firings (which at USDA were predicated on supposed performance issues) were made on dubious grounds.

Meanwhile, the affected employees will remain in their respective positions.

Harris herself issued the ruling only a day after a federal injunction barring her from taking action was lifted on Tuesday. President Donald Trump attempted to fire Harris upon taking office, though her term does not expire until 2028. She sued, and on Tuesday a federal judge ruled that her firing was illegal. The White House is likely to escalate the effort to fire her to a court of appeals.

“Because there is a possibility that additional individuals, not specifically named in the agency’s response, may be affected by these probationary terminations, and given the assertions made in [Office of Special Counsel]’s initial stay request and the deference to which we afford OSC in the context of an initial stay request, I find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the agency terminated the aforementioned probationary employees, in violation of [US Code],” reads Harris’s ruling.

The board’s ruling could end up affecting thousands of other workers, depending on how many were targeted with letters that cited poor performance as a supposed reason for termination.

But it won’t stop DOGE and the broader Trump administration from formally reducing the workforces at federal agencies and winding down entire divisions — or even the agencies themselves, which are under the purview of the president.

US special counsel Hampton Dellinger is also fighting in court to keep his job after Trump targeted him for termination. Dellinger has publicly called on agencies to reverse DOGE-ordered mass firings, which he has called illegal.

Harris’s ruling Wednesday came in response to a filing from Dellinger on behalf of “John Doe”, an unidentified Department of Agriculture employee.

“I am calling on all federal agencies to voluntarily and immediately rescind any unlawful terminations of probationary employees,” he has said. “My agency will continue to investigate and take appropriate action on prohibited personnel practices including improper terminations of probationary employees. Voluntarily rescinding these hasty and apparently unlawful personnel actions is the right thing to do and avoids the unnecessary wasting of taxpayer dollars.”