Overview
- Fourteen FEMA employees returned to work Monday after reinstatement notices last week, then were placed back on administrative leave hours later at the direction of the Department of Homeland Security.
- DHS said the returns to work were unauthorized actions by bureaucrats outside their authority and said senior leadership swiftly corrected the move.
- The employees were originally put on leave in August after publicly signing an open letter to Congress warning that the administration’s FEMA overhaul could endanger lives.
- FEMA opened misconduct investigations in September, and by mid-November at least one worker received a termination notice before appealing.
- Advocates representing the workers argue political appointees overruled career managers and say the brief reinstatements bolster whistleblower and OSC complaints, citing similar discipline of more than 100 EPA employees earlier this year.