The US government began laying off thousands of employees at various government agencies last night as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk accelerate their purge of the federal bureaucracy, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA, citing union and employee sources.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides health care to veterans, said it had fired more than 1,000 employees who were on probation, and the US Forest Service is expected to lay off more than 3,000 people.
Emails to terminate employment have been sent to employees across the government in the past 48 hours, mostly recently hired employees who are still on probation. The layoffs include employees at the Department of Education, the Small Business Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the General Services Administration, which runs many federal buildings.
According to government data, about 280,000 civilian government employees were hired less than two years ago, and most of them are still on probation, making them easier to fire.
The layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appear to have affected employees who are not on probation.
The new round of layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau comes after the agency already fired 70 of its probationary employees on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service is expected to lay off 3,400 probationary employees across all levels of the agency, Politico reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. noted that firefighters would not be among the layoffs.
A statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs said the layoffs would "save the department more than $98 million annually and redirect all of those resources back to the department's health care, benefits and beneficiary services."
All probationary employees at the U.S. government's Office of Human Resources Management were fired last night and told in a group phone call to leave the agency's headquarters in Washington, two sources said.
As the layoffs began, a group of 14 U.S. states filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleging that Trump illegally appointed Musk, giving him "unchecked legal authority" without authorization from the U.S. Congress.
Most government employees can be legally fired only for poor performance or misconduct, and if they are arbitrarily fired, the law guarantees them many rights, including the right to appeal. Probationary employees have fewer legal protections.
The scope of the federal government overhaul by Trump and the CEO of “Tesla“ Musk appears to be expanding as the billionaire's advisers appeared for the first time at the Federal Revenue Service building and U.S. embassies were told to prepare for staff cuts, Reuters reported.
A federal judge has ordered U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to restore funding to hundreds of foreign aid contractors who say they were affected by a 90-day funding freeze ordered by Trump, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
“At least so far, the defendants have not offered any explanation as to why a complete halt to all foreign aid granted by Congress, which has sent shockwaves and harmed the interests of thousands of contracts with businesses, nonprofits and organizations across the country that rely on it, is rational“, said Judge Amir Ali of the Washington District Court, appointed by former President Joe Biden. District of Columbia, quoted by “Politico“.