People of Civil Service: "The office I work for provides mission critical service..."

The actions taken by the Trump Administration against Federal employees are illegal.

I have worked in the Federal government for over 30 years. I have a friend who cast his vote for Jill Stein because, according to him, the two parties are identical. He told me that the massive firings of probationary staff are no different than under Clinton or Obama. He told ME, a Fed for over 30 yrs, that THIS DOGE chaos was no different. And he thinks of himself as much more educated and knowing than everyone else. Well, I told him, I have lived this existence, and NO, it’s NOT the same.

Not even remotely.

The actions taken by the Trump Administration against Federal employees are illegal.

Plain as day, illegal. Yes, probationary Federal employees can be much more easily terminated within their probationary period—BUT there has to be documented cause for termination. The cause has to be failure or incompetence—NOT just because, “I feel like it.” Not just, “I don't like your political opinions.” Not just to reduce the size of the government.

Trump did not offer a buyout, despite all the extremely sloppy reporting in the news.

If you want to reduce the size of government—as several presidents have desired in the past—there are legal means to do so. I'm not well-versed in personnel procedures, but there are several tools to use to shrink the number of employees. One is through a "buyout"—and no, Trump did not offer a buyout, despite all the extremely sloppy reporting in the news.

A buyout is an offer of a lump sum (upfront) to an employee in order for the employee to leave. (Trump offered something he invented called a "deferred resignation", which offered continuing biweekly paychecks while not working, until Sept 30. Then later, the Trump Administration offered early retirement. Neither one is a buyout.) Another means to reduce the federal government staff is through offering early retirement; this process allows employees who are close to eligible for retirement to take retirement. A third means of reducing the workforce is through RIFs—reduction in force.

Trump and Elon took NO such pains to ensure that mission critical functions were not crippled. 

All of the legal means of reducing the Federal workforce—critically—require approval from the individual agency in order to do it. That approval process ensures that we don't see entire offices wiped out, or so many departures that an office or agency's mission is crippled. Trump and Elon took NO such pains to ensure that mission critical functions were not crippled. The office I work for provides mission critical service. When all Feds are furloughed, my office continues to operate, because it is that critical.

A year ago, we were struggling to meet our mission and were fortunate to receive approval for 5 or 6 new employees. We have now lost all of them. Some took the deferred resignation, so they will leave in a few weeks, but the rest were sent home immediately and forever. We do not yet know how many of our staff took the early retirement or simply were eligible and opted to retire. But we already know that we have lost so many, we will struggle again to meet our mission critical objectives.

With the accompanying hiring freeze, we will be even more hampered as natural attrition removes further staff. We have older employees who, through health issues or death, will leave us with even fewer staff to perform our mission.

The willy-nilly irresponsible elimination of Federal employees accomplishes more than reducing the number of employees.

Makes it much easier for politicians to claim "The govt doesn't work"—because they crippled it

It:

1. Places a large number of people on the unemployment list, raising the rate of unemployment and harming the economies of the cities and states where those employees live,

2. Puts families at risk of starvation, as the prime bread-winner stops receiving a paycheck. (I have a friend whose husband works for USAID. She herself makes a modest income. She has 2 young kids. They are all at risk now.)

3. Scares and intimidates all Federal workers,

4. Makes it much easier for politicians to claim "The govt doesn't work"—because they crippled it—and thereby sell off the functions of government to the private sector. That move guarantees to put more money in the pockets of the uber rich and takes more money from the taxpayer to achieve those same functions, and finally,

5. Allows for a Constitutional crisis, as the president performs illegal activities with delayed justice for the victims.

Either choice is filled with anxiety, stress and fear for the future of our country.

As someone who isn’t yet fired, I will be working under the constant threat of being RIF-ed. And I will be forced to choose to either do the work of 3 people, or allow the mission to fail—and play into the hands of those who would terminate my office entirely. Either choice is filled with anxiety, stress and fear for the future of our country.