The notice of fire came just before Valentine’s Day, and Elena Moseiko’s heart was shattered as she broke crying in front of her two young children.
She has bills to pay, including mortgages, preschool tuition fees, car payments and more.
“I’ve hurt my child and now I’m very angry with the administration,” she said. “I hope you’ve never joined the federal government.”
Moseyko joined the U.S. Veterans Affairs Office last year as a data scientist. She was “happily hired” in the private sector for the consulting company, but the government’s job seemed more stable.
Instead, her life was upside down last week after President Donald Trump’s administration began enacting massive layoffs as part of an aggressive effort to sort out the federal workforce.
In a statement to USA Today, the president’s special assistant, Harrison Fields said that Trump “returned to Washington with mandate from the American people.
“This isn’t easy in a broken system rooted in bureaucracy and bloating, but it’s a long-standing job,” he said.
USA Today spoke to federal workers fired from the Department of Education, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and Transportation sectors. They scramble over the weekend, finding ways to apply for unemployment benefits, and reviewing their budgets to adapt to the new financial reality.
They were worried about everything from earning rent to paying student loans. Many talked about entering government work because they value public services and feel that their values are being trampled upon.
“I’m far more angry than I’m devastated,” said Chelsea Milburn, a 34-year-old Navy reserve. “I wanted to continue to be respected and cherished for my service, especially in the way that termination occurred.”
The shooting targets probation employees
Former employer USA Today said they had never received any bad performance reviews at work, but their walking papers all contained similar languages.
“The agency has found that based on your performance, it has not demonstrated that further employment at the agency will be in the public interest,” several federal workers told USA that the layoffs were read. .
Which institutions are affected? Education Department, USAID, NIH, etc.
“I read it like a copy-and-paste letter that doesn’t provide details,” Milburn said. “It was very cold and cruel.”
She said her teleworking job was almost perfect after being diagnosed with pot after a dramatic change two years ago. time.
Milburn was still one of nearly 70 employees in the education sector during the probationary period that was let go Wednesday night. Federal employees on probation are typically employed within the past year.
They are prone to fire because they lack the right to negotiate with career employees having to sue termination. But some were in their department for longer than that.
Doug Berry, who worked for the US Agriculture and Rural Development Agency, left his job in real estate for a job at USDA last January and was hired as a loan technician. However, in July, the 53-year-old will instead take on the position as a pathway intern because he wanted to pursue an MBA at the same time, not only to give him a better career path after the probationary period. I chose to do so. .
His probationary period was reset, but he couldn’t know what it meant at the time.
Berry said his firing letter was sent to him by email at nearly 5pm on Thursday and was valid at the end of the business day, but his office was closed at 4:30pm. He was already gone that day. He showed up on a Friday morning and discovered that he had no work.
“I was able to donate an hour of time to clean my desk and hand over what I was working on to a colleague,” he said.
At least five unions representing government workers have filed a lawsuit over the firing of prosecutor workers in the administration, alleging that they have broken the formal process that government agencies use to fire employees.
“These shootings are not about poor performance. There is no evidence that these employees are not committed civil servants.
Doge aims to reduce government spending
The government’s efficiency department led by Elon Musk has shed tears on federal agencies, moving to shut down some, and cutting back on others significantly. Almost all federal workers were offered acquisitions. After that, the notification began.
Thousands of workers have been fired recently, and the end focuses on new recruits who are still on probation. The scope of the layoffs is still unknown, but recently published data from the U.S. Human Resources Office shows that about 220,000 federal employees out of 2.3 million as of March 2024 were in their current position for a year. I have had less than that experience.
Trump showed no signs of surrender despite the flood of lawsuits.
“Those who save their country are not violating the law,” Trump said on his social media app, True Social.
But as Musk’s team is scrutinizing the federal government and trying to purge employee scores, the president’s opponents continue to warn of both personal and national impact.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a GOP lawmaker who occasionally opposes Trump, said dozens of federal workers in her state were suddenly fired.
“I share the administration’s goal of reducing the size of the federal government, but this approach is to bring confusion, anxiety and traumatizing our civil servants now, I said.
Whether in the country’s urban or rural enclaves, the full impact of Trump’s decision will not be fully absorbed for weeks or months. For example, if the Human Resources Administration refused to provide a response to USA Today on Friday, they sought a total or estimate of how many workers were given up.
Former workers worry about the community they were hired to serve
Victoria Porter, 28, said her dream job found her riding horses in the backcountry to maintain the hiking trails for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana. All went away on Friday when she said eight other people on the 12-man trail team had been fired.
The end would have a major impact on the community around the forest where she worked, Porter said. Outdoor outfitters and other local businesses rely on trails as the region’s economic engine. She said the trail “is no way” could be maintained with a dramatically smaller crew.
“They do their best, but that means hikers can’t get through, which means their outfits can’t get through and their livelihoods depend on bringing people into the backcountry. I will,” Porter said. “So they’re going to suffer. The community around here will suffer. Tourism will drop, so the economy will really hit hard.”
Berry was also concerned that the impact of termination on low-income rural communities was reviewing his work, reviewing loans and funding community projects.
“USDA’s rural development helps towns who voted for Trump every day. Understanding these things are necessary in small town life and what you voted to get rid of the water projects you need. I think there is a disconnect between realizing this.”
“I don’t know where I’m going,” Berry said. “I have never been fired in my life for a cause.”
Moseyko joined the VA in June 2024 in a very skilled position writing machine learning algorithms. She is confident in getting a new job with her skills, but she says that the sudden pink slip is at a mental cost and that her immediate financial concerns are bothering her. She found a way to apply for unemployment on Friday.
“It’s mentally very draining,” she said.
Berry has begun the process of fighting decisions. Moseyko believes that termination is illegal.
“We, as a member of us, have gotten the exact same form letter without the right process or actual cause, are unhappy,” Berry said.
Meanwhile, Milburn said she has to find a job that addresses her medical condition, as she did for the federal government. She is also upset that most Americans who support government jobs cuts do not actually recognize the impact of powerful downsizing that ultimately has a trickle-down effect.
“To see them cheering on these widespread attacks on civil servants, it’s very hurtful and infuriating to me, as if it was a good thing,” Milburn said. “I feel like I have served my country brilliantly, and now it betrays me.
“But I’m not going out without a fight.”
Contribution: Joey Garrison
