Veterans Affairs axes another 1,400 probationary employees

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of 1,400 probationary employees Monday evening—employees the agency said occupied “non-mission critical positions” such as diversity, equity and inclusion-related roles.

VA made the announcement via press release, stating the personnel moves would save the agency “more than $83 million per year” in funding that will redirect toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.

The 1,400 fired probationers join another 1,000 the agency laid off Feb. 13, though the agency exempted those directly providing “mission critical” care or benefits to veterans, families, caregivers and survivors. Probationary employees are those who have served less than one year in a competitive service appointment or less than two years in an excepted service appointment.

VA currently has more than 40,000 probationary employees in its ranks, most of whom were exempt from Monday’s personnel actions. Those employees who opted to participate in the Office of Personnel Management’s deferred resignation program were also exempt.

“These and other recent personnel decisions are extraordinarily difficult, but VA is focused on allocating its resources to help as many Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors as possible,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “These moves will not hurt VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries. In fact, Veterans are going to notice a change for the better. In the coming weeks and months, VA will be announcing plans to put these resources to work helping the department fulfill its core mission: providing the best possible care and benefits to Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.”

Kathleen McCarthy, spokesperson for Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., said the House Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman “trusts VA Secretary Collins when he says there will be no impact to the delivery of care, benefits, or services to veterans following the administration’s recent actions."

But in a statement about the firings, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said that Collins was putting the interests of veterans last and that the “terminations are already impairing the Department’s ability to deliver timely and quality care and benefits to veterans” and that they would “do long-term damage to VA’s ability to recruit and retain talented doctors, nurses, and others wanting to pursue a career serving veterans.” Blumenthal called on Republican lawmakers to help push back on the “harmful cuts.”

VFW National Commander Al Lipphardt said in a statement that when he goes before a joint session of the congressional veterans’ affairs committees next week he would “call on Congress and this administration to put an end to the indiscriminate firing of veterans in the government workforce.” 

“...It appears humans have been taken out of what is a human capital issue,” Lipphardt said in the statement. “It has been reported to us from veterans who have lost their jobs that the emails they received letting them go were disjointed, and inconsistent across the board. This leads us to believe they were automated with little to no oversight or thought. When it comes to complex problems, we rely on humans to make the right choices at the right times. We should never leave the hard decisions that impact people’s lives and livelihoods to an algorithm or an email distribution list.”

VA’s decision comes as other agencies, including the General Services Administration, plan reductions in force.

 Eric Katz contributed to this report.