ANGER, CHAOS REIGN AMID TRUMP’S MASS LAYOFFS
Protesters rally Friday in support of federal workers outside of the Department of Health and Human Services.
AP
AP
NEW YORK — Workers across the country responded with anger and confusion Friday as they grappled with the Trump administration’s aggressive effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who have yet to qualify for civil service protections.
While much of the administration’s attention was focused on disrupting bureaucracy in Washington, the broad-based effort to slash the government workforce was impacting a far wider swath of workers.
As layoff notices were sent out agency by agency, federal employees from Michigan to Florida were left reeling from being told that their services were no longer needed.
In a sign of how chaotic the firings have been, some who received layoff notices had already accepted the administration’s deferred resignation offer, under which they were supposed to be paid until Sept. 30 if they agreed to quit, raising questions about whether others who signed the deal would nonetheless be fired. On Friday evening, the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government, acknowledged that some employees may have received termination notices in error and said the buyouts agreements would be honored.
“This has been slash and burn,” said Nicholas Detter, who had been working in Kansas as a natural resource specialist, helping farmers reduce soil and water erosion, until he was fired by email late Thursday night.
He said there seemed to be little thought about how employees and the farmers and ranchers he helped would be impacted.
“None of this has been done thoughtfully or carefully,” he said.
The White House and OPM declined to say Friday how many probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, have so far been dismissed. According to government data maintained by OPM, 220,000 workers had less than a year on the job as of March 2024.
The probationary layoffs are the latest salvo in the new administration’s sweeping efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce, which are being led by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. Trump, in an executive order Tuesday, told agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions” after their initial attempt to downsize the workforce — the voluntary buyout — was accepted by only 75,000 workers.
On Thursday night, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees who had served for less than two years. That included researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, said Thursday.
Dozens were fired from the Education Department, including special education specialists and student aid officials, according to a union that represents agency workers.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1,300 probationary employees — roughly one-tenth of the agency’s total workforce — are being forced out.
The new Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Friday that her agency had invited Musk’s DOGE team with “open arms” and that layoffs “will be forthcoming.”
David Rice, 50, a disabled Army paratrooper who has been on probation since joining the U.S. Department of Energy in September, learned Thursday that he had lost his job.
Rice, who has been working as a foreign affairs specialist on health matters relating to radiation exposure, said he agrees with the Trump administration’s goal of making the government more efficient, but objects to the random, scattershot approach being taken.
“It’s just been chaos,” said Rice.
Andrew Lennox, a 10-year Marine veteran, was part of a new supervisor training program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He said he received an email “out of the blue” Thursday evening informing him that he was being terminated.
“In order to help veterans, you just fired a veteran,” said Lennox, 35, a former USMC infantryman who was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
MORE NATION/WORLD
Treasury watchdog begins audit of Musk DOGE team’s access to U.S. government’s payment system.
While much of the administration’s attention was focused on disrupting bureaucracy in Washington, the broad-based effort to slash the government workforce was impacting a far wider swath of workers.
As layoff notices were sent out agency by agency, federal employees from Michigan to Florida were left reeling from being told that their services were no longer needed.
In a sign of how chaotic the firings have been, some who received layoff notices had already accepted the administration’s deferred resignation offer, under which they were supposed to be paid until Sept. 30 if they agreed to quit, raising questions about whether others who signed the deal would nonetheless be fired. On Friday evening, the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government, acknowledged that some employees may have received termination notices in error and said the buyouts agreements would be honored.
“This has been slash and burn,” said Nicholas Detter, who had been working in Kansas as a natural resource specialist, helping farmers reduce soil and water erosion, until he was fired by email late Thursday night.
He said there seemed to be little thought about how employees and the farmers and ranchers he helped would be impacted.
“None of this has been done thoughtfully or carefully,” he said.
The White House and OPM declined to say Friday how many probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, have so far been dismissed. According to government data maintained by OPM, 220,000 workers had less than a year on the job as of March 2024.
The probationary layoffs are the latest salvo in the new administration’s sweeping efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce, which are being led by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. Trump, in an executive order Tuesday, told agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions” after their initial attempt to downsize the workforce — the voluntary buyout — was accepted by only 75,000 workers.
On Thursday night, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees who had served for less than two years. That included researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, said Thursday.
Dozens were fired from the Education Department, including special education specialists and student aid officials, according to a union that represents agency workers.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1,300 probationary employees — roughly one-tenth of the agency’s total workforce — are being forced out.
The new Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Friday that her agency had invited Musk’s DOGE team with “open arms” and that layoffs “will be forthcoming.”
David Rice, 50, a disabled Army paratrooper who has been on probation since joining the U.S. Department of Energy in September, learned Thursday that he had lost his job.
Rice, who has been working as a foreign affairs specialist on health matters relating to radiation exposure, said he agrees with the Trump administration’s goal of making the government more efficient, but objects to the random, scattershot approach being taken.
“It’s just been chaos,” said Rice.
Andrew Lennox, a 10-year Marine veteran, was part of a new supervisor training program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He said he received an email “out of the blue” Thursday evening informing him that he was being terminated.
“In order to help veterans, you just fired a veteran,” said Lennox, 35, a former USMC infantryman who was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
MORE NATION/WORLD
Treasury watchdog begins audit of Musk DOGE team’s access to U.S. government’s payment system.