WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump administration has been trying to reduce the number of federal workers. They have been firing or giving a buyout to the workers to meet that goal. In the latest cuts, the administration is now terminating federal probationary workers, meaning people who have been there for about a year or two. We spoke with one of those workers who was recently terminated. She said the administration’s reasons to fire her does not make sense.
“I’m still processing this to some degree,” said a terminated probationary worker who wants to remain anonymous. She worked for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for almost a year, but late Saturday night, she received a letter from the Acting Chief Human Capital Officer at HHS.
“It stated that my position was being terminated,” said the probationary worker.
It states her performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the agency. The notice sparked shock and confusion because not long ago, supervisors gave her high ratings in her performance reviews. They said she exceeded expectations in her role.
“This is happening to people who are accused of poor performance and that’s not true,” said the probationary worker. “And there was no intentions- I’ve had conversations of the next year, two years, and there were long term plans to keep me. So, this was not a decision made by my leadership or my agency. It seems like something decided from the top.”
The Trump administration told agencies recently that probationary workers should be fired if they weren’t meeting high standards. It’s unclear how many probationary workers have been let go but the latest data shows more than 200-thousand people have worked within the federal government for less than a year according to the Office of Personnel Management. This probationary worker said her termination will not only hurt her teammates, but the people who were benefiting from her work, too.
“This is uncharted territory,” said the probationary worker. “I’m figuring out what are my rights, what can I do. There are so many negative impacts its having and it’s not being done in a way that is thoughtful. It’s not being done in a way that’s really considering any impact on people. In my opinion, it’s the most disruptive way you can do this.”
We reached out to the Acting Chief of Human Capital but have not heard back yet. Other reports show probationary workers across different departments like Veterans Affairs, Transportation and more, have also been let go.
