Federal workers in limbo amid whiplash White House firings and court-ordered rehirings

Trump and Musk's Doge agency have spread confusion and uncertainty among government employees

In the 100 days since Donald Trump returned to power, the new administration has driven tens of thousands of federal workers from a civil service it has denigrated as bloated" and corrupt". Among its first targets: probationary workers like Cindi Hron.

Hron, a landscape architect with the US Forest Service, was one of thousands abruptly fired across the agency on 14 February, in an action some now refer to as the Valentine's Day massacre, executed by Elon Musk's newly empowered department of government efficiency", or Doge.