Forty former Arizona state workers will get their jobs back, after a review found they were wrongly fired while serving under the former head of the Arizona Department of Economic Security Tim Jeffries.

About 500 DES employees were fired under Jeffries' watch. After questions mounted, the Governor’s Office in late October directed the state’s human-resources division to look into the mass firings.

Nearly 270 former employees contacted the state asking that their files be reviewed. Of those, 40 were found to have been fired in a “manner that did not follow best practices.” The state will offer them their jobs back at least at their previous salary level.  

Gov. Doug Ducey let go of Jeffries last month after not only the firings, but also controversies involving emails with religious messaging, and a party where he bought alcohol for employees during work hours.