Some of the employees were on probationary status.
The Trump administration has started firing workers across multiple government agencies, according to officials and unions.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, was terminating employees this week, a spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
The spokesperson declined to say how many workers are being fired.
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) terminated more than 1,000 employees, including some employees on probationary status, VA Secretary Doug Collins announced on Thursday.
And the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began layoffs of probationary workers this week, unions said in a new lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plan for terminations. The bureau did not return an inquiry.
President Donald Trump, in a Feb. 11 executive order, directed agency heads to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force” and “separate from Federal service temporary employees and reemployed annuitants working in areas that will likely be subject” to the reductions. He said the moves would eliminate “waste, bloat, and insularity.”
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in January directed agencies to provide it with a list of probationary employees and to determine whether any of the workers should be retained. OPM officials met with officials from other agencies on Thursday and advised them to lay off probationary employees, a source familiar with the meetings told The Epoch Times.
OPM has also itself terminated all probationary staffers, the source said.
The HHS spokesperson said the department “is following the Administration’s guidance and taking action to support the President’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government.”
“This is to ensure that HHS better serves the American people at the highest and most efficient standard,” the spokesperson said.
Some other agencies declined to say whether they are laying off workers, including the U.S. Department of Education, which Trump has said he wants to shut down.
Critics lambasted the terminations.
