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The Trump administration has initiated a sweeping dismissal of probationary federal employees, impacting thousands of workers across multiple government agencies. The move comes just weeks after Trump’s hiring freeze, as part of a broader effort to reduce the size of the federal government.
According to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) officials, agency leaders were instructed to terminate probationary employees—workers who have been with the federal government for one to two years and have not yet gained full civil service protections. While the exact number of layoffs is unclear, data from OPM suggests that hundreds of thousands of workers could be affected. So far, the Department of Veterans Affairs has confirmed over 1,000 terminations, the Department of Education has dismissed dozens of employees, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development is anticipating up to a 50% workforce reduction. The U.S. Forest Service expects to cut at least 3,400 employees, and thousands of institutional support contractors at USAID were either fired or placed on leave earlier this month.
An OPM spokesperson defended the firings, stating that the probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment. The spokesperson added that agencies are taking independent action in support of the President’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government. However, federal worker unions are strongly condemning the mass terminations. Everett Kelley, President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), accused the Trump administration of using probationary status as an excuse to purge workers hired before Trump’s second term. He stated that these firings are not about poor performance but about gutting the federal government, silencing workers, and forcing agencies into submission to a radical agenda that prioritizes cronyism over competence.
The mass firings follow Trump’s executive order freezing federal hiring, preventing agencies from filling vacant positions or creating new ones. The move is part of a broader federal budget restructuring, led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to slash what Trump calls wasteful spending. Additionally, about 75,000 federal employees have already accepted voluntary buyouts, known as the deferred resignation program, which offers payments through September for those who leave their roles.
The firings are expected to continue in the coming weeks, though legal challenges could slow or block further cuts. A federal appeals court recently rejected the Trump administration’s request to reinstate funding freezes that were temporarily halted by a lower court. With mounting resistance from Congress, labor unions, and advocacy groups, the fate of Trump’s aggressive federal workforce overhaul remains uncertain. However, for thousands of dismissed employees, the impact is immediate and could signal the most dramatic reshaping of the federal workforce in modern history.
