Federal job cuts hit home

Rose* is one of thousands of so called “faceless bureaucrats” losing their jobs as the federal workforce is reduced.
The South Minneapolis resident explained, “I‘ve worked at the Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Medical Center in different capacities for the last six years, mostly in roles funded through research grants. In March of 2024, I began my service in the Research Office of the VA doing grants management. My position was funded by federal dollars; because I was new to my position, although not new to the VA, I was still considered in my probationary period.
“At 3:52 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, an email from an unknown sender landed in my inbox: the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer. It read, ‘Unfortunately the Agency finds that your performance has not met the burden to demonstrate that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest. For this reason, the Agency informs you that the Agency is removing you from your position in federal service effective immediately.’
“That’s how I learned I was terminated. Terminated is the federal term for fired. I went and told my supervisor I‘d just been fired, and it was news to him.”

Dedication to serve
In Rose’s most recent performance evaluation, dated October 2024, she was graded as an outstanding employee – the highest level of review. She said, “The idea behind my job was to progress healthcare research at the VA. My job directly influenced the healthcare research conducted for veterans.”
Rose continued, “I think the ‘powers that be’ don’t realize that a lot of us feel called to work here; we have a sense of mission to serve those who gave everything they had to our country. You can throw ominous threats at us all day long, and it won’t change our drive and motivation. It was still pedal to the metal to get that mission done.
“ To my knowledge, some 2,400 people within the VA nationally received the same email I did. I learned from a meeting with my union representative that at least 38 local staffers received that same email, too.
“My job was mission critical requiring specialized experience. The loss of my position impairs our ability to secure program funding in the future.”

Protection under the law
When a federal agency proposes to terminate an employee serving a probationary period, the employee is entitled to the following, according to the Code of Federal Regulations:
(a) An advance written notice stating the reasons, specifically and in detail, for the proposed action.
(b) The employee is entitled to a reasonable time for filing a written answer to the notice of proposed adverse action and for furnishing affidavits in support of their answer. If the employee answers, the agency shall consider the answer in reaching its decision.
(c) The employee is entitled to be notified of the agency’s decision at the earliest practicable date. The agency shall deliver the decision to the employee at or before the time the action will be made effective. The notice shall be in writing, inform the employee of the reasons for the action, inform the employee of their right of appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and inform them of the time limit within which the appeal must be submitted.
None of the parts of this statute were upheld in Rose’s termination. She has filed two appeals to date: to the Merit Systems Protection Board for Federal Employees and to the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, who sent her termination letter.
She has not heard back from either.

Limbo
During her years at the VA, Rose worked on completing a Ph.D in rehabilitation science at the University of Minnesota. She said, “I’ve financed the last one and a half years of the degree myself, and am 90% on my way to being done. The problem is I have no access to the data I compiled, because my research subjects were VA patients. All of my research is locked up in my work computer. At the very least, I should be able to access that data sometime, but I don’t know when.”
Rose concluded, ”It’s now three weeks later and, to my knowledge, no one at the VA has been directly informed of my termination: not the Human Resources Department, and not my supervisor. I’ve received no information about my health insurance status, my severance package, my pension, or my 401K contributions.
“Our union and the local research office are fighting hard to get me reinstated. They’ve appealed to our regional office, and at the national level. Any opportunity that has come through for them to advocate for me, they’ve done it.
“My motivation for putting my story out there is that these terminations are affecting real people doing real work in the federal service. The message that’s being pushed is that federal employees are wasteful – that we sit at our desks with our feet up all day, wasting the public’s money.
“That could not be further from the truth.”
Editor’s note: Rose* asked to speak under the condition of anonymity. Rose is not her real name.