Marinell Chandler is back at work with the National Park Service in Alaska after she was laid off in February and offered a university job in March, given a chance to return as a seasonal employee and then rehired full-time as a result of a federal court order.
Yet the emotional roller coaster the 33-year-old park ranger has been riding for two months over a job she has cherished for a decade still hasn’t come to a secure halt. A cloud hangs over her job after a Supreme Court ruling this month effectively opened the door to her being laid off again. The high court paused a federal judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of fired probationary employees at six federal agencies, including the Interior Department, which runs the Park Service.
Chandler works at the Alaska Public Lands Information Center in Fairbanks, which serves as a jumping-off point for visitors to national parks and preserves in the northernmost reaches of the United States. If the administration chooses to once again dismiss the estimated 16,000 federal workers it laid off in February, Chandler’s dream job could end in a nightmare.
