The U.S. Office of Personnel Management met with federal agencies Thursday and told them to start letting go of probationary employees, a source familiar with the meetings told the News4 I-Team.
That source knew of no federal agency that was exempt.
The Department of Veterans Affairs then announced it was letting go of 1,000 probationary employees.
There are at least 216,000 probationary employees that could be impacted, the I-Team confirmed. That is 9.4% of the total federal workforce.
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
Federal workers can be on probation anywhere from one to two years — before all their civil service protections kick in.
“The probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment,” an OPM spokesperson said. “Agencies are taking independent action in light of the recent hiring freeze and in support of the president’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government to better serve the American people at the highest possible standard.”
"This administration has abused the probationary period to conduct a politically driven mass firing spree, targeting employees not because of performance, but because they were hired before [President Donald] Trump took office,” American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
He said AFGE will fight the firings.
"These firings are not about poor performance — there is no evidence these employees were anything but dedicated public servants,” Kelley said. “They are about power. They are about gutting the federal government, silencing workers and forcing agencies into submission to a radical agenda that prioritizes cronyism over competence.”
Johanna Hickman, senior litigation counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since 2023, lost her job when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was shuttered Tuesday.
“Around nine o’clock on Tuesday night, all the probationary employees, as far as we know, folks in their first year of two depending what type of job they have, all probationary employees lost access to their computers, and then around 9 p.m., the termination notices started going out.”
The union representing CFPB employees filed a request for a temporary restraining order.
Less than 5% of the federal workforce took the deferred resignation offer, OPM said. The Trump administration set a higher expectation, hoping that 5% to 10% of the federal workforce would accept its offer.
Sign up for our free deep-dive newsletter, The 4Front, to get standout News4 stories sent right to your inbox. Subscribe here.
