February 26, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Don Beyer, who represents a Northern Virginia district containing one of the largest concentrations of federal employees in the U.S. House, issued the following statement after the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) blocked the termination of six federal workers who were terminated by the Musk-Trump Administration without cause during their probationary period:

“The reinstatement of these federal employees after wrongful terminations without cause is excellent news, and I hope and expect this will be a harbinger of much more to come. These firings were clearly illegal and politically motivated, and violated civil service protections enacted by Congress. These reinstatements should be made permanent, and this relief should be extended to thousands of other federal workers who were also wrongfully and illegally fired since January 20^th.

“This ruling, along with many other defeats for Musk and Trump in federal courts and other judicial bodies, show that we are not powerless to resist and defeat their harmful actions. Republicans should listen to their constituents and stand up against the authoritarian acts of this lawless administration. In the meantime, there are many people in and out of government who stand with federal employees and support them in the face of these immoral attacks on their service to the American people.”

The Merit Systems Protection Board was established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 to protect the federal civil service from politicization and ensure that federal workers are hired, promoted, or removed based on merit, experience, and the quality of their work, rather than political considerations. The cases of six probationary federal workers were initially referred to the MSPB by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which said their firings were likely illegal. Both the OSC and the organizations who filed the cases on behalf of the plaintiffs have said they would seek broader relief for probationary employees terminated by Musk and Trump. Tens of thousands of federal employees have been terminated without sufficient cause in mass political purges over the past few weeks.