NEW YORK (AP) — Workers all over the country responded with anger and confusion Friday as they grappled with the Trump administration 's aggressive effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who have yet to qualify for civil service protections. While much of the administration’s attention was focused on disrupting bureaucracy in Washington, the broad-based effort to slash the government workforce was impacting a far wider swath of workers. As layoff notices began to go out agency by agency this week, federal employees from Michigan to Florida were left reeling from being told that their services were no longer needed.
Many of those impacted say they had already accepted the administration's deferred resignation offer, under which they were supposed to be paid until Sept. 30 if they agreed to quit. That left some wondering how many others who signed will nonetheless be fired.
“This has been slash and burn,” said Nicholas Detter, who had been working in Kansas as a natural resource specialist, helping farmers reduce soil and water erosion, until he was fired by email late Thursday night. He said there seemed to be little thought about how employees and the farmers and ranchers he helped would be impacted. “None of this has been done thoughtfully or carefully,” he said.
The White House and Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government, declined to.