“Inefficient in the name of efficiency,” according to one federal employee who could be fired, re-hired and fired again.
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In recent months, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, rehired, and fired again and threatened.
For now, they have two weeks to go after a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration not to fire for two more weeks, but the administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling.
However, employees are explaining weeks of uncertainty, concern and doubt as their work is turned off again after it’s turned off.
“The whole situation that caused this chaos was inefficiency in the name of efficiency,” said a federal employee who received the cuts in forced notifications had asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. “I said it wasn’t. It makes it very difficult to know what to believe and trust your employer very hard.”
Thousands of probation workers were fired in February. In response to a series of court decisions, the employees were rehired and fired again. Separately, thousands of employees set out under a voluntary program known as “Road Forks.” Thousands of more will then remain in an incentive-based programme for early departures or resignation in April and May. Several of those who chose to leave that third round refused the request.
“Emotionally, this has excluded me and my family and has impacted every aspect of our lives,” a federal employee told USA Today. “It will increase your stress, ruin your work-life balance and truly put a strain on your home life.”
U.S. District Judge Susan Ilston issued a temporary restraining order on May 9th against government planned cuts against planned cuts in a case in the Northern District of California. President Donald Trump and his offices driving budget and staffing cuts are likely to have exceeded their authority, Ilston wrote.
Her order blocked measures regarding planned termination of more than 100,000 employees across 21 agencies and departments. However, until May 23rd. Above On May 16, after traveling between courts, Trump’s administration appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Ilston’s restraint order.
The order addressed concerns set forth among the 1,000 pages of evidence presented in lawsuits filed by the United States Federation of Government Employees and other unions, nonprofits and local governments. The President may have the ability to pursue new policy priorities, but without Congress it cannot make major changes to agents in Congress, “equal branches and partners.” “Unchecked presidential forces are not something that framers had in mind.”
The order directed not to approve the mandatory cuts and not to complete further implementation of Trump’s executive order or memos from the Office of Management and Budget and Personnel Management. Another hearing was scheduled for May 22nd.
The California case is one of dozens of cases against the administration. Law professor at Harvard University Jody Freeman said in a May 14 webinar that he was issued by judges appointed by both Democrat and Republican judges, and judges in very different jurisdictions. Ilston was appointed by President Bill Clinton.
The Fed resists reorganization plans release
Ilston directed the government to take over copies of the planned cuts and reorganization cuts, but the government resisted, saying the documents were “simply unrelated to the court’s future litigation.” Currently, the government is to provide copies of two reorganization plans from the institutions selected to the court for her to be reviewed by noon on May 19th.
Many agencies have already reported 10% to 20% of employees leaving through termination of probation employees and voluntary retirements and incentive-based departures. Based on the case documents filed by the Federation of Government Employees, Illston’s order included the following planned staff reductions:
- Health and Human Services have fired 8,000-10,000, and have totaled at least 20,000 departures this year, accounting for more than 20% of staff.
- The energy sector has cut nearly half its workforce, 8,500.
- The national marine and air administration, already declining by an estimated 2,000 employees, has managed to reduce the remaining workforce of an estimated 10,000 people by more than half.
- The Internal Revenue Agency will cut the remaining staff by 40%.
- The National Science Foundation eliminates about half of its 1,700 employees.
- Veterans issues are expected to cut 83,000 positions.
- Small business managers cut their workforce by 40%.
The order also said the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health will fire 221 of its 222 employees at its Pittsburgh office. However, in testimony during the May 14th Congressional Budget hearing, Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he ordered around 100 people in these positions to be revived.
Additionally, Kennedy said he restored 100 positions in West Virginia and 100 positions in the World Trade Center’s Health Program. In total, the department’s planned cuts will bring employee numbers back to 2019 levels, he said.
Kennedy was burned into the process by lawmakers, saying the simplest initial analysis was that the federal government didn’t spend $2 trillion a year. Kennedy said Elon Musk, who headed Trump’s government’s Department of Efficiency, helped him figure out where they were. ““Not, fraud, abuse,” a catchphrase that is frequently used in both this management and previous administration.
Kennedy said he was under a court order to not make further plans for the reorganization and he didn’t give any additional details. I’ve been encouraged by my lawyers not to talk about it.” He added that some of the rumour cuts had not been cut at all, but that the program was transferred to a new “regulation for a healthy America.”
To bridge the gaps in local forecast offices, National Weather Service offers employees the opportunity to move elsewhere.
Power reduction was already in motion at several institutions. The agency has been requested by the administration to submit phase one of its restructuring by March 13, with the second phase, including effective cuts, until April 14.
Cuts have begun in Health and Welfare, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Americaorps and Small Business Administration, according to court documents.
While the government’s Efficiency Bureau has attracted a lot of attention on contract reductions, the order reveals that the Administration and Budget and Personnel Management Bureaus play an important role in reducing budgets and staff.
Among the insiders of the president who have been very involved is Russell Vought, the director of the administration’s budget office and former Trump administration. Vought is a key author of the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” and has spoken out about his intention to reduce the size of the federal government. In one personal speech from 2023, a video obtained by Pro Publica said “the bureaucrats hope to be affected by trauma.”
In a note to the agency and department on February 26th, he wrote:
Doge was announced just before the election last fall. Musk-Led Doge, implemented by executive order on the day of inauguration, oversees sudden cuts in spending and contracts. The workers have clashed with information technology experts and lawyers from several agencies. Congressional employees and Congress have also flagged concerns about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to search contracts, websites, emails for keywords such as diversity and climate change, and scan anti-Trump sentiment for employees.
Musk, a senior adviser to the president, said recently he would be retreating from his heavy involvement in Doge because his company needs him. In a one-hour interview on May 1 with a handful of media outlets, including USA Today, Musk said he plans to work on Doge in the future. Musk accompanied Trump and his aides in mid-May to officially visit the Middle East.
Illston’s orders found that neither Doge, Buldge Office, or Personnel Office may have the authority to direct federal agencies to engage in major termination, restructuring, or elimination.
Dinah Voyles Pulver is a national correspondent for USA Today. Contact her at dpulver @usatoday.com or @dinahvp.
