Fired government workers could get their jobs back through appeal to the 1970s-era Merit Systems Protection Board

Thousands of federal workers recently fired by the Trump administration may appeal their terminations for reinstatement and potentially receive back pay through a 1970-era board that helps to ensure merit-based hiring in the federal workforce.

According to NBC News, fired federal workers can appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, a body of around 60 judges that hears cases from federal workers claiming wrongful termination cases. Last year, the board saw around 4,500 cases. However, that is expected to increase with the number of mass firings that have occurred since the Trump administration entered the White House.

The board is described as an “independent, quasi-judicial agency.”

Thousands of workers across various agencies have been let go and fired, including those in the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, and many other executive branch agencies. Those first to go have been employees involved in DEI efforts throughout the federal government as well as those involved with “environmental justice.”

Federal employment attorneys argued that the workers who have been fired have a case to appeal the firing to the board, however, the process takes months.

"I think a number of employees who have been fired have excellent cases that they could bring before the board,” employment lawyer at Alden Law Group, Jim Eisenmann, told the outlet.

“People are supposed to be retained or not retained based on the adequacy of their performance,” Eisenmann added. “There’s no way these agencies in these wholesale firings have actually evaluated people based on their performance. In fact, some of these people had just gotten feedback saying their performance excelled beyond all expectations.”

The Trump administration, however, with the help of Elon Musk as well as the DOGE team, has been moving swiftly to cut back on spending and remove workers to create a more efficient federal government.

Some federal worker unions have attempted to block the mass firings, as the Trump administration has been carrying out large-scale reductions  pursuant to Trump’s executive order signed on February 11.