The Summary
- Around 1,100 EPA employees received an email saying that they could lose their jobs immediately.
- The email identified the recipients as likely probationary, meaning they ve worked at the EPA for under a year and have less job protection.
- Union representatives said the message was scary for many recipients.
Over 1,000 workers at the Environmental Protection Agency have received notice from the Trump administration that they may be let go right away.
According to an email examined by NBC News, employees who had worked for the agency for less than a year were notified via email last week that they had been recognized as employees who were probably on probation or trial.
According to the email, the agency has the authority to fire you right away if you are an employee on probation or trial. Receiving a notice of termination and having your employment terminated immediately are the steps involved in probationary removal.
According to Marie Owens Powell, head of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238—a union that represents about 8,500 EPA employees—roughly 1,100 workers got the email. Powell claimed to have gotten the agency’s list of workers.
According to Powell, no probationary employee has been fired as of yet. As you would guess, many were terrified when they heard the message, and we were flooded with inquiries from them. Probationary staff can, of course, be fired by the agency, but only with good reason.
Powell went on to say that the union will make sure there was a good reason and that the procedure was followed if workers are fired.
The number of EPA workers that will be targeted for layoffs is unknown. The email was sent at a time when the Trump administration was actively working to reduce government spending. It has attempted to temporarily suspend federal funds, offered buyouts to federal employees, and tried to shut down the USAID program. The buyout offer, named Fork in the Road, was extended to federal employees, including EPA personnel.
Since January 20th, EPA and perhaps other federal agencies have been extremely distracted by a number of emails, including this one. Powell stated that the attack we are facing is undoubtedly of the shock-and-awe variety.
Union members who worked on themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion have already been put on administrative leave, she continued.
Administrator Lee Zeldin, a former New York representative confirmed on Wednesday, interacted directly with professional workers around EPA’s headquarters on his first day of work, according to EPA spokesman Molly Vaseliou.
In an email, Vaseliou stated that the EPA is actively carrying out the executive orders and related recommendations issued by President Trump. Being honest and transparent is our aim. All employees must be aware of the law and the potential effects of policy decisions as we strive to increase government efficiency. Creating a more functional and efficient federal government that benefits all Americans is the ultimate objective.
When asked if the agency planned to fire employees who got the email, Vaseliou did not explicitly respond.
According to the email, a worker’s ability to appeal a termination would rely on whether they meet the requirements of the Federal Code, which defines employees as individuals who have completed a full year of continuous employment.
However, according to Powell, a number of workers who had been with the company for more than a year also got the email and got in touch with the union because they thought they had been mistakenly included.
There are undoubtedly problems with the list. According to Powell, the email was sent to those people who have served for the federal government for more than a year. EPA leaders used it as an opportunity to update their list.
EPA personnel are represented by another union local, AFGE Local 704, whose president, Nicole Cantello, stated that she too knew of a number of employees on the list who claimed to have more than a year of continuous federal service.
Since environmental policy fluctuates based on which party controls the executive branch, certain federal employees may experience whiplash. CNN was the first to report on the email sent to EPA staff.
According to Cantello, the AFGE Local 704 union is worried that the agency would fire a large number of probationary staff members.
Employees on probation are typically fired due to poor performance or disciplinary actions. In my 33 years at EPA, we have never experienced a mass probationary termination. She added that probationary staff have limited rights and that the scope and magnitude of this are unprecedented.
“As long as they give a reason, there won’t be much anyone can do about it,” Cantello added, alluding to EPA executives.
The last administration change, according to Jeremy Symons, a senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Network, an organization made up of former EPA employees, was the most tumultuous in the agency’s history. From 1994 until 2001, Symons served as an EPA climate adviser. He was there when President George W. Bush took over the agency following President Bill Clinton.
He claimed that this retaliatory expulsion of public employees who had done nothing wrong was not part of the transition, which was characterized by a distinct set of policy priorities.