An independent federal board has directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reinstate nearly 6,000 employees fired last month amid the Trump administration's effort to cull the federal workforce.

A workers’ board is reinstating – at least temporarily – almost 6,000 fired probationary workers from the Department of Agriculture, according to a newly issued order obtained by CNN.

The fired employees were on probationary status, swept up in the administration’s push to rapidly reduce the size of the federal work force in part by targeting those types of workers.

The decision is a blow to the Trump administration’s effort to drastically and quickly shrink the federal bureaucracy.

A U.S. board that reviews the firings of federal employees on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to temporarily reinstate thousands of workers who lost their jobs as part of President Donald Trump's layoffs of the federal workforce.

The Trump administration was ordered Wednesday to temporarily reinstate thousands of probationary U.S. Department of Agriculture employees. At the request of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the directive was issued by Cathy Harris,

The U.S. Department of Agriculture must temporarily reinstate nearly 6,000 probationary employees fired since Feb. 13, according to a ruling by the Merit Systems Protection Board.