The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday that more than 1,000 employees at the agency have been dismissed, as the Trump administration carries out mass layoffs at several federal agencies amid large-scale budget-cutting efforts.
The Trump administration has laid off thousands amid cost-cutting efforts.
Department of Energy: As many as 2,000 probationary employees at the agency were fired Thursday, according to Politico, citing anonymous sources.
Department of Education: Some probationary employees at the agency—including those from the general counsel’s office, office of Special Education and Rehabilitation and Federal Student Aid office—were notified of their termination via a letter this week that cited their “performance,” CNN reported, citing an unnamed union source who claimed “dozens” of employees were let go.
Department of Veterans Affairs: The agency announced Thursday that more than 1,000 employees were dismissed “effective immediately,” including some probationary employees, claiming the personnel changes would save the department more than $98 million annually.
U.S. Forest Service: More than 3,400 employees were fired Thursday, including positions at each level of the agency, two people familiar with the firings told Politico.
Small Business Administration: Some probationary employees at the agency received emails notifying them of their terminations, before another email said the initial notices were a mistake, only to be notified in a third email on Tuesday confirming their firings, outlets reported.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: The union that represents workers at the financial agency said about 73 of its members had been terminated, after the agency—which has drawn ire from Trump’s tech allies—was ordered to stop all work.
National Nuclear Safety Administration: An employee at the agency—which oversees nuclear weapons in the U.S.—told NPR the agency would fire about 300 of the agency’s 1,800 staff.
General Services Administration: More than 100 people were affected by layoffs at the agency responsible for the federal government’s real estate portfolio, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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It’s not immediately clear how many staff have been affected by widespread layoffs across the Trump administration, which are separate from voluntary buyout deals offered to more than 2 million federal workers. Trump’s administration has reportedly made a number of other high-profile terminations: At least 17 inspectors general, the chief financial officer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency plus three other FEMA workers, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan, more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on cases against Trump, at least nine high-ranking FBI agents and the director of the Office of Government Ethics, among others.
They are mostly new employees who have been in the federal workforce for less than a year and are not afforded some job protections, including a right to appeal terminations. Probationary employees are the target of the Trump administration’s layoffs, according to the Wall Street Journal.
More than 200,000. That’s how many probationary workers are in the federal workforce, according to Office of Personnel Management data.
The Trump administration separately offered all federal civilian workers pay with benefits through September if they choose to voluntarily resign, an offer 75,000 federal workers have reportedly accepted so far. The administration has suggested employees who don’t participate in the program could be subject to the mass terminations. The buyout deal was temporarily put on hold amid a lawsuit, but a federal judge allowed the program to resume this week.
It’s unclear. The administration is facing multiple lawsuits over some of the more high-profile firings. A judge temporarily reinstated the head of the Office of Special Counsel, Hampton Dellinger, who filed a lawsuit Monday contesting his firing. Eight inspectors general also argued in a lawsuit filed Wednesday their terminations violated federal rules that require the executive branch to give Congress 30 days notice before firing them, plus a justification for the terminations. The administration is also facing lawsuits from former National Labor Relations Board Chair Gwynne Wilcox, who was fired by Trump on Jan. 27, and former Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris, who was fired Feb. 10. Harris is a Democrat. Trump has also fired the three-member panel’s other Democratic member, Raymond Limon, and appointed its sole Republican member, Henry Kerner, as chair.
Federal regulations of mass layoffs, known as “reduction in force,” require the government to give 60 days advance notice of a layoff. The job must also be eliminated entirely—not an attempt to replace a worker, according to the Wall Street Journal. Employees who believe the administration broke protocol in terminating them can file complaints with the Merit Systems Protection Board. There are also protections in place for independent boards and commissions, such as the NLRB. Presidents can only fire members of the board for “malfeasance” or “neglect of duty,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
Trump is aiming for budget cuts between 30% and 40%, on average, across all government agencies, with staffing reductions serving as a major area for spending rollbacks, the Washington Post reported, citing two anonymous sources. Many of the spending cuts are led by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
The Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security are not expected to face budget cuts or reductions in staff.
Trump has sought to dismantle multiple arms of the federal government, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the CFPB and all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. A judge recently blocked Trump’s attempt to put 2,200 USAID staff on paid leave. Shortly after taking office, Trump ordered all DEI employees be placed on paid leave. A staff shakeup is also expected at the Department of Justice, where Trump’s appointees are investigating prosecutors who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
Trump signed an executive order to reinstate a policy from his first term that reclassified tens of thousands of federal civilian employees to at-will employees, making it easier for him to fire them by ridding them of their job protections. Several unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union have filed lawsuits to block Schedule F from taking effect. Schedule F is unrelated to the mass layoffs of probationary employees, but is widely viewed as another tool Trump can use to exert outsized power over the makeup of the federal workforce.
Trump’s Federal Worker Buyout Pause Lifted: Here’s What To Know As 75,000 Workers Accept Offer (Forbes)
Trump Vs. CFPB: Russ Vought Orders Consumer Financial Protection Bureau To Stop Work (Forbes)