A lawyer representing the Trump administration told a US District Court on Friday evening that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun offering new hires to disaster workers whose contracts the agency did not renew in January, reversing a controversial decision that prompted a coalition of labor unions, scientific groups and local governments to sue the administration.
FEMA began “contacts to offer new hires” for fixed-term employees whose contracts expired in the first three weeks of January, U.S. Attorney Craig Misakian wrote in a notice filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Friday.
The notice comes after months of uncertainty about the future of FEMA’s limited-term disaster workers, who make up nearly half of the agency’s workforce. This follows news earlier this week from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 14 employees were returned to their jobs after they were placed on paid administrative leave for eight months for signing a public letter of opposition criticizing policies taken by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
The actions are the latest signs that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen is moving away from the tougher approach taken by his predecessor, Kristi Noem, toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency, before she was removed as head of the Department of Homeland Security. It also raises questions about whether these actions are a response to concerns that the disaster agency may not be prepared for the Atlantic hurricane season and major events such as the soccer World Cup.
FEMA did not immediately respond to questions Friday about the court notice or how many employees had received offers to return. An AP spokesperson said Thursday that while it does not comment on specific personnel actions, the agency is “addressing distinct personnel actions to ensure a stable workforce and a strong, deployable surge force for upcoming national events and potential disasters.”
FEMA’s on-call response/recovery personnel, or CORE, cadre operates on two- to four-year assignments, though these are traditionally routinely renewed, a system that allows the agency to build and scale down its capacity as needed. There are about 10,000 cores. Current and former FEMA employees told the AP that it is not uncommon for employees to work for decades or even retire on term-limited appointments.
FEMA suddenly stopped renewing contracts for some CORE employees at the beginning of 2026 as they expired, and extended other appointments for only 90 days at a time. Agency Non-renewals have been temporarily suspended In late January, just before a severe winter storm affected multiple states. By then, 159 basic units had not been renovated, according to the department a permit By Interim Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Karen S. Evans.
A coalition led by the American Federation of Government Employees has sued the administration over the non-renewal, alleging it is part of a broader plan to cut FEMA’s workforce in half and undermine FEMA’s congressional mandate to ensure the nation’s disaster preparedness.
In her announcement, Evans denied any plan to “comprehensively” eliminate COREs, and said non-renewal “does not threaten FEMA’s ability to fulfill its statutory mandate.”
It is unclear how FEMA’s decision will affect the lawsuit. A statement submitted to the court by plaintiffs’ lawyers on Friday evening said they would respond “after appropriate factual investigation.” Plaintiffs’ attorneys were scheduled to fire former DHS Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Guy next week in an ongoing discovery effort about the decision-making process that led to the CORE firings.
A FEMA employee, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said he knows of at least two COREs who have already been called back.
FEMA officials also announced this week that COREs whose contracts expire between January and May and who previously had a 90-day extension “may be rehired for up to one year,” along with those whose contracts expire after May, according to an email to employees reviewed by the AP. FEMA “eligible” reservists will be renewed for two years, the email said. About 7,000 reservists in the agency’s auxiliary workforce have contracts that expire May 2.
“Our preparedness directly impacts our ability to help Americans in need, and every employee plays a critical role in meeting these challenges,” the email said.