FEMA tells court it is offering jobs back to employees who were let go in January

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FEMA tells court it is offering jobs back to employees who were let go in January

2026-05-02 10:49 Last Updated At：12:05

An attorney representing the Trump administration informed a U.S. District Court Friday evening that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun offering new appointments 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 has “initiated contact to offer new appointments” to term-limited staff whose contracts expired the first three weeks of January, U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian wrote in a notice submitted to the U.S. District Court in San Francisco Friday.

The notice comes after months of uncertainty over the future of FEMA's term-limited disaster workers, who make up roughly half the agency's workforce. It follows news earlier this week that FEMA had reinstated 14 employees who were put on paid administrative leave for eight months for signing a public letter of dissent critiquing policies taken by FEMA and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

The actions are the latest indications that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is moving away from his predecessor Kristi Noem’s harsher approach toward FEMA, before she was fired as DHS leader. They also raise questions about whether the measures are a response to concerns that the disaster agency might not be prepared for the Atlantic hurricane season and major events like the FIFA World Cup.

FEMA did not immediately respond to questions Friday about the court notice or how many employees received offers to return. On Thursday a spokesperson told The Associated Press that while it does not comment on specific personnel actions, the agency is “addressing outstanding personnel actions to ensure workforce stability and a strong, deployable surge force for upcoming national events and potential disasters.”

FEMA’s Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees, or CORE, work on two- to four-year assignments, though they traditionally have been routinely renewed, a system that allows the agency to build up and taper down its capacity as needed. There are about 10,000 COREs. Current and former FEMA staffers told the AP it is not uncommon for employees to work for decades or even retire in the term-limited appointments.

FEMA abruptly stopped renewing some CORE employees’ contracts at the start of 2026 as they expired, and extended other appointments by only 90 days at a time. The agency paused the nonrenewals in late January, right before a severe winter storm impacted multiple states. By that time, 159 COREs had not been renewed, according to a sworn declaration by FEMA's temporary leader, Karen S. Evans.

A coalition led by the American Federation of Government Employees labor union sued the administration over the nonrenewals, alleging they were part of a wider plan to cut FEMA’s workforce by half and undermined FEMA's congressional mandate to ensure the nation's disaster preparedness.

Evans in her declaration denied any plan for “blanket” elimination of COREs, and said the nonrenewals “do not threaten FEMA's ability to perform its statutory mandate.”

It is unclear how FEMA's decision will impact the lawsuit. A statement submitted to the court by plaintiffs' lawyers Friday evening said they would respond “after proper factual investigation." Plaintiffs' lawyers were scheduled to depose former DHS Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Guy next week in an ongoing discovery effort around the decision-making that led to the CORE dismissals.

A FEMA employee who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media said they knew of at least two COREs who had already been called back.

FEMA officials also announced this week that COREs with contracts ending between January and May who were previously extended for 90 days “may be reappointed for up to one year,” along with those whose contracts end after May, according to an email to staff reviewed by the AP. “Eligible” FEMA reservists will be renewed for two years, the email said. Around 7,000 reservists in the agency’s surge workforce have contracts expiring May 2.

“Our readiness directly impacts our ability to help Americans in need,” the email said, “and every employee plays a critical role in meeting these challenges.”

Barrett hits winning 3-pointer in OT as Raptors force Game 7, beat Cavaliers 112-100

TORONTO (AP) — RJ Barrett hit a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime and the Toronto Raptors pushed their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series to a seventh game by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 112-110 on Friday night.

Evan Mobley had a chance to win it for Cleveland but his 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim as time expired.

Scottie Barnes had 25 points and 14 assists, Barrett and Ja’Kobe Walter both scored 24 points and Collin Murray-Boyles added 17 as Toronto held on after blowing an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Game 7 is in Cleveland on Sunday. The home team has won all six games so far in the series.

“This is why you fight so hard to get home-court advantage,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. This is the playoffs, this is what it’s about. We’ve got to recover and get ready for Sunday’s game.”

The Raptors have yet to win in 10 playoff games in Cleveland, including three this series.

“We’ve got to be ourselves,” Barnes said. “Do what we did tonight, play super hard, make it tough for every single guy out there on the floor. That’s made an impact. Guys stepped up when we needed them to. It’s going to take everybody.”

Mobley had 26 points and 14 rebounds, Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points and James Harden had 16 for the Cavaliers. Jarrett Allen scored 14 points and Dean Wade had 10.

Harden shot 5 for 14 and went 1 for 4 from 3-point range. He finished with nine rebounds and nine assists, but also made four turnovers.

Barrett’s decisive basket hit off the back rim and bounced high above the backboard before falling through as the sellout crowd of 19,919 roared.

“Sometimes the basketball gods aren’t with you,” Atkinson said.

The high bounce on Barrett’s winning basket kept Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic on edge.

“It was only half a second, but it felt like an eternity,” Rajakovic said. “I was happy for him, for this team, for this city, that the shot went down.”

Barrett felt good about his chances as he watched the ball bounce high.

“I thought it was still good because it went straight up,” Barrett said. “When it goes straight up, you have a chance.”

For Mitchell, the friendly bounce was reminiscent of an even bigger playoff basket north of the border: Kawhi Leonard’s four-bounce buzzer-beating winner against Philadelphia in Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals.

Rajakovic said he had a feeling before the game that Barrett was going to come up big.

“Call me crazy, call me psychic, but I saw this one coming tonight,” Rajakovic said. “It’s surreal.”

Mitchell said the loss wouldn’t change Cleveland’s focus for Sunday.

“Protect home court,” Mitchell said. “It doesn’t matter if we lost by 30 or two, protect home court. That’s all you can do.”

Barnes had 14 points and 10 assists by halftime, making him the eighth NBA player since 1997 with 14 or more points and 10 or more assists in one half of a playoff game.

Cleveland finished with 18 turnovers, leading to 25 points for Toronto.

The Raptors also held a big edge in fast-break points, outscoring the Cavaliers 20-6.

Raptors forward Brandon Ingram did not play because of a sore right heel. Ingram left in the second quarter of Wednesday’s 125-120 loss at Cleveland. His status for Sunday is uncertain.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba