According to new reports from Bahrain, some 26 of the 29 workers from the Bahrain International Circuit allowed to return to work after being fired for participating in last year's protests have not chosen to return to the track.
The BIC issued a cheery statement earlier this month confirming that all staff fired during the protests were being re-hired as part of ongoing reconciliation efforts by the Bahrain government.
In total, 29 members of the circuit's staff were fired after taking part in the political protests against the rulers of the Gulf kingdom last spring.
The protests, which took place as part of the 'Arab spring' movement across the Middle East, saw thousands of pro-democracy protestors take to the streets of the capital Manama.
The move to bring the staff back to the track followed a decree from King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, allowing all workers sacked over the protests to be allowed to return.
The decree was part of ongoing efforts to implement recommendations by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry into the protests to help defuse the political tension in the country.
The inquiry, requested by King Hamad, reported a number of human rights violations by security forces as they clamped down on the protestors.
"In the spirit of reconciliation...the [BIC] warmly welcomes back our employees and looks forward to them rejoining the BIC family," the track's chairman Zayed Rashid Al Zayani grinned earlier this week.
But according to reports from the BBC on Friday, only three of the 29 staff re-hired by the pardon have returned to work.
A number are said to have refused to return, after not being offered compensation for lost pay during their unemployment and being asked to drop legal cases over their unfair dismissal.
The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was eventually cancelled over the political situation in the country, and this year's race remains in some doubt.
But Zayed al-Zayeni, the chairman of the BIC, was quoted as saying that he was keen to welcome the staff back and move forward with plans for 2012.
"We have to move forward, the country has to move on," he told the BBC, "Based on his majesty's instructions we have called [our employees] back and there will be no mark against their record."
He also hinted that the decision to fire the staff in the first place had been made away from the circuit chiefs themselves, saying: "It was not our decision, not our call."
But despite the offer of re-employment for their former staff, the report suggests that the move to reinstate their former workers was not as unconditional as first suggested.
One of the fired workers claimed that less than half those who had been fired had been asked to return, and a number of the vacancies had been filled by other people.
"We loved Formula 1, we loved working for the company," the unnamed worker was quoted as saying, "How could the managers allow this to happen?"
He also insisted that he had not been part of the protests, and that he and other workers had been arrested and beaten by Bahrain police officers.
Formula One bosses have continued to insist that while the situation in Bahrain remains calm, the 2012 race will go ahead.
"It's on the calendar," FOM chief Bernie Ecclestone said back in November last year, "We'll be there, unless something terrible happens to stop us."
This week, meanwhile, former F1 champion Damon Hill told reporters that "a lot has changed" in Bahrain since the protests, and said that F1 could return with a "clear conscience".
But human rights groups have continued to push for F1 to boycott the country over continued allegations of human rights abuses.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled for April 22nd, the fourth round of this season's calendar.
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