Roughly 50 state workers who lost their jobs last year over Gov. Charlie Bakers COVID-19 vaccine mandate have been offered the opportunity to return to their posts, a state official told MassLive Tuesday evening.

The disclosure comes hours after the Baker administration had confirmed a small number of positions could be recouped after a wave of nearly 1,000 terminations and voluntary resignations though offers of reinstated employment remain limited.

Some MassDOT workers, including a janitor and drivers license examiner, have been sent letters offering their jobs back effective immediately and unconditionally, according to copies reviewed by MassLive.

It is unclear which state agencies, beyond MassDOT, are also seeking to recruit former employees. But the state official told MassLive that the rehiring letters involve several state government agencies.

The MassDOT former workers were told theyre not required to dismiss or release any claims, lawsuits, charges or proceedings you have brought against MassDOT, according to the letters, dated Oct. 18, from MassDOT Chief Human Resources Officer Matthew Knosp.

Your reinstated employment will be consistent with the terms and conditions as existed at the time your employment terminated, in that Executive Order 595 and related policies remain in effect and you maintain that you have a sincerely held religious belief, Knosp wrote in the letter. You will be required to follow MassDOT and/or facility COVID-19 and reinstatement protocols, including the requirement to mask while in-person at a MassDOT workplace and to social distance, as feasible, while in-person at a MassDOT workplace.

Baker, speaking to reporters Tuesday, said the offers of reinstated employment come as the administration identified potential solutions for religious and medical exemption requests. A spokesman for the governor could not further elaborate why certain former state workers could regain their jobs, while others did not qualify for a second chance.

Part of the exemption process depends, to some extent, on medical issues, on religious issues and it also depends on the work you do, Baker said. And all of those things get baked into this process. Theres a small number of people that the commonwealth wants to talk to because we think we may have an answer for them.