Two senior employees at the state’s embattled DNA laboratory have been immediately stood down amid bombshell findings.

An interim report found thousands of samples from rape and murder cases were dismissed because of a high threshold for the amount of cells present between February 2018 and June 2022.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk this morning confirmed two employees have been stood down, pending the outcome of the Commission of Inquiry, which starts Monday.

She admitted to not knowing what roles the employees have, why they were stood down, and whether they will receive pay as they wait for the inquiry to wrap up in December.

“These are perhaps the most concerning reports our state has seen,” she said.

The government-run lab has been ordered to change expert witness statements issued in the past five years.