April 9, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC – As covered in Politico’s Morning Money newsletter, Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) led DMV Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in demanding back pay for rehired civil servants at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In a letter to HUD Secretary Scott Turner, the Senators demand answers and clarity on how many employees were rehired, when they will return to their jobs, when they will receive back pay, and more.
“This Administration has conducted a witch hunt against federal workers. In their callous chaos, they have fired countless patriotic civil servants who are now being rehired because, as we all know, the work they do is critical for the American people. They should not pay for the foolishness of this Administration, which is why we are demanding they get the back pay they are owed,” said Senator Alsobrooks.
“The Trump Administration broke the law when they fired over 300 civil servants at HUD, and they’re breaking it again in refusing to grant backpay and benefits to those they are now required to reinstate. It’s adding insult to injury to these employees focused on their mission to improve Americans’ access to safe and affordable housing. Secretary Turner must right this wrong and immediately pay these federal employees what they deserve – as ordered by the courts,” said Senator Van Hollen.
“Civil servants deserve stability and security, not uncertainty and chaos. As they return to their posts and continue to serve the American people, I’m pushing to ensure that the hundreds of illegally-terminated HUD workers can receive the benefits and backpay they are owed,” said Senator Warner.
“A nonpartisan, merit-based civil service is essential to the basic operation of government, but the Trump Administration has created unnecessary chaos by firing and then rehiring certain newly-hired or recently-promoted employees. These federal workers deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. It is only fair that recently-reinstated HUD employees be given back pay for the time they spent unjustly barred by the Administration from coming in to work, and that they have their health benefits restored as well,” said Senator Kaine.
Read more in Politico Morning Money here.
You can read the full letter to Secretary Turner here or below:
Dear Secretary Turner:
We write to request information regarding reports that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is refusing to provide rehired probationary workers with back pay or reinstate their Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) – a move that likely violates federal law. Federal employees at HUD work tirelessly to ensure Americans have access to quality, affordable homes, and it is essential that HUD provide them with the benefits and backpay they are entitled to.
In mid-February, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) illegally ordered federal agencies to terminate thousands of probationary employees, and the Trump administration swiftly carried out a series of mass firings across the government, including at HUD. Probationary employees are typically government employees hired within the past one to two years, but can also include longtime government employees that were recently hired or promoted to new positions.
A judge ruled in March that the OPM broke the law by ordering the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Treasury, and Interior to terminate probationary employees.
Accordingly, on March 17, your agency sent an email to over 300 fired probationary employees informing them that they were going to be reinstated, would be placed on administrative leave temporarily, and should notify their state’s local office to cancel all unemployment claims. Your employees were also told in that email that they would receive back pay and benefits.
However, on March 24th, those same employees received a second email from your agency, which stated HUD would not provide employees back pay for the time they were out of their jobs. This comes when most federal agencies have stated that their probationary employees will receive back pay, including at the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Energy, and the Small Business Administration. Moreover, federal law requires back pay for federal workers found to be the victim of a wrongful or unwarranted personnel action, including dismissal.
Additionally, HUD did not guarantee employees health insurance coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program. In this second email, HUD informed probationary employees that they could choose to enroll in the temporary continuation of coverage (TCC) to continue receiving health insurance. TCC, however, is costlier than FEHB for employees, as it requires employees to pay the government’s share of premiums on top of their own.
HUD employees do not appear to have received any pay or benefits since their reinstatement on March 17th. Your actions are harming federal employees who are dedicated to ensuring Americans have access to safe and affordable housing and are doing nothing to lower housing costs. We urge you to immediately provide back pay for HUD’s reinstated employees in accordance with federal law and ensure reinstated employees have access to FEHB. We also request that you respond to the following questions by May 9, 2025:
1. How many probationary employees did HUD rehire from March 17, 2025, through today? Of those probationary employees, how many are on administrative leave? When will these probationary employees be taken off administrative leave and officially return to their jobs?
2. Please provide a detailed plan and timeline that HUD will follow to ensure that rehired probationary employees receive back pay.
3. What analysis, if any, did HUD conduct in its work to determine whether or not reinstated probationary employees would receive back pay? Please provide a copy of this analysis and any written communications at the agency regarding the provision of back pay to rehired probationary employees. If no analysis was provided, why not?
4. Please provide a detailed plan and timeline that HUD will follow to ensure that rehired probationary employees are reinstated to the FEHB program.
5. What additional steps is HUD taking to support recently rehired probationary employees?
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
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