The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery is being exempted from a federal hiring freeze just days after six shipyard workers were fired.
The exemption announced Tuesday follows weeks of uncertainty for the shipyard’s nearly 8,000 workers during hiring freezes and job cuts under the Trump administration.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire announced the exemption Tuesday while Maine Senator Susan Collins praised the move.
“I am thankful the Department of Defense has elected to exempt our nation’s shipyards from the hiring freeze, and I will continue to work with the Department and advocate for the Shipyard and our shipyard workforce to make sure their critical work is able to continue unimpeded,” said Collins.
The exemption at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard comes after a loosening of the hiring freeze for certain workers announced Friday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“While the Department remains under the hiring freeze, DoD will only hire mission essential employees into positions that directly contribute to our warfighting readiness,” said Hegseth, “The Secretaries of the Military Departments may approve hiring freeze exemptions for the civilian workforce of their respective Military Departments after review by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.”
The fate of the six civilian Portsmouth shipyard workers who were laid off last week is still not certain, although a union representative has said they’ll be reinstated. Those workers were let go by the Department of the Navy, according to the union.
The six were were within their probationary period. Last week, two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of probationary employees.
