The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has been exempted from the civilian hiring freeze announced last month, following an updated directive by the Department of Defense.

The site, which has so far weathered a temporary freeze and several layoffs, is among a selection of “readiness-centric facilities,” which include shipyards, depots and medical treatment facilities, Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a directive dated Friday. He said guidance regarding additional exemptions would come from the Office of the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, praised the exemption in a written statement Tuesday.

“The men and women who work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and shipyards across the country are critical members of our defense industrial base, without whom the ability to repair, retrofit and refuel our country’s nuclear submarines would be in jeopardy,” Collins said.

Collins joined New Hampshire Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in calling for an exemption for the shipyard in a letter last month.

They argued that cutting civilian workers would undermine the facility’s ability to repair, retrofit and maintain the country’s nuclear submarine fleet.

The shipyard canceled a hiring event slated for early March about two weeks before it was scheduled to occur.

Nearly 8,000 people are employed at the shipyard, which needs to hire 550 workers each year to meet Navy demand, Collins said in the letter.

The exemption comes amid a flurry of updates from the shipyard, one of hundreds of institutions impacted by aggressive attempts to cut federal spending.

Last week, the Department of the Navy terminated a half-dozen secretaries at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard who were within their probationary period. Days later, two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of probationary employees, the Associated Press reported.

Bill Webber, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2024, which represents those terminated workers, said they were in a “holding pattern,” waiting to be reinstated in line with the order.

“According to the judge’s decision last week, it looks like according to him, they should be reinstated, so we’re just waiting for the Navy to catch up,” Webber said during a phone call Monday.

He said it was still too early to say for sure when, or whether, they would actually return to their positions. The workers are on paid leave through April 1, he said.

“I can’t make any judgment calls on what the administration is going to do next,” Webber said. “My expectation is they’re coming back, but I can’t tell you when they’re coming back.”

Shipyard spokesperson Danna Eddy referred questions regarding the status of the hiring freeze and how many employees it hopes to hire to the Navy’s chief of information. A spokesperson at that office did not immediately respond Tuesday evening.