The Federal Emergency Management Agency has ordered a group of employees to return to work after placing them on leave in August — and later dismissing one — for publicly raising concerns about the agency’s disaster-response capabilities.
About 14 workers who signed a whistleblower letter criticizing President Donald Trump’s cuts to disaster funding had been placed on paid administrative leave, according to David Seide, a lawyer for the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, which is helping some workers press whistleblower complaints against FEMA with the federal Office of Special Counsel. FEMA opened an internal investigation into the signatories, Seide said, and began notifying employees last week to return to work, indicating the investigations had ended.
The move to bring back these employees comes as the fate of the entire agency is up in the air. President Trump has repeatedly suggested FEMA should be abolished and established a review council to come up with recommendations on what to do with the agency. That review council is set to vote on its final recommendations at a public meeting on Dec. 11.
FEMA and its parent, the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to a request for comment.
“I am very glad that I’m officially cleared of wrongdoing and that I get to be back at work and see my co-workers after three months,” said Abby McIlraith, an emergency management specialist who handles individual assistance cases and returns to work on Monday.
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