The independent federal agency Merit Systems Protection Board Tuesday stayed the firing of six federal workers for 45 days, ruling they must get their jobs back at least through April 10.

Hampton Dellinger, the head of the independent Office of Special Counsel whom President Donald Trump has tried to oust but a judge has temporarily kept in place, said the firings are likely illegal

Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, recommended pausing the mass firings of some probationary federal employees.

The Merit Systems Protection Board ordered a 45-day stay of the terminations, a move that could have implications for the thousands of employees fired in recent weeks.

The Merit Systems Protection Board, the quasi-judicial agency that hears appeals in federal employee labor disputes, has ordered a stay in the firing of six probationary employees.

A federal watchdog indicated that he is examining the broader legality of the mass terminations that have rippled through the federal government.

A government watchdog special counsel who oversees federal workers' whistleblower reports said Monday his office is seeking to halt some of the Trump administration's mass firings of federal workers.

The Office of Special Counsel’s findings could have major implications for fired federal workers trying to get their jobs back.