The Department of Veterans Affairs building, Washington, D.C. July 26, 2023. (Photo by Patricia Kime) More than 1,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees were fired this week as part of efforts by President Donald Trump and presidential adviser Elon Musk to slash the size of the federal government.
The VA announced Thursday that roughly 2.3% of its "probationary" workforce — those who competed for jobs but had less than a year at the VA or employees appointed to specific positions without going through the standard federal hiring process and have served less than two years — were dismissed effective immediately.
VA officials did not say what roles the employees filled but added that most of the department’s 43,000 probationary workers are exempt from federal workforce reductions because they serve in "mission critical" positions.
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"At VA, we are focused on saving money so it can be better spent on veteran care,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement Thursday. “We thank these employees for their service to VA. This was a tough decision, but ultimately it’s the right call to better support the veterans, families, caregivers and survivors the department exists to serve."
The VA has almost 450,000 employees, nearly 92% of whom work in health care and health administration and support services. ShareVideo Player is loading.Play VideoPlayNext playlist itemUnmuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 0:25Loaded: 0.00%Stream Type Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVERemaining Time -0:25Playback RateChapters Chapters
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captions off, selected default, selected This is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. TransparencyOpaqueTransparencyOpaqueTransparencyTransparent restore all settings to the default valuesClose Modal Dialog End of dialog window. CloseClose Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. In separate moves, the VA announced Jan. 23 that more than […]
VA Fires 1,000 Employees as Part of Trump’s Trimming of the Federal Workforce
