More than 1,000 Environmental Protection Agency workers received notice they could be fired immediately, union officials said, as the Trump administration pursues federal workforce cuts.
The agency sent emails last week to workers identified as being on “probationary/trial period” status, informing them they could be terminated immediately, according to an email reviewed by CNN.
“No probationary employee has been let go yet,” said Marie Owens Powell, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents about 8,500 EPA staffers. “The list is definitely flawed. Some folks with much more than a year of federal service received the email,” Powell said.
Union officials say the list contains errors, including workers with more than one year of service who should have already completed their probationary period. “The list is definitely flawed. Some folks with much more than a year of federal service received the email,” Powell said.
EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said Administrator Lee Zeldin “engaged directly with career staff across EPA’s headquarters” on his first day. “The EPA is diligently implementing President Trump’s executive orders and associated guidance,” she said, adding that the agency aims to “create a more effective and efficient federal government.”
This is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize federal agencies, including recent buyout offers to workers across multiple departments.
Also read: Federal Worker Buyout Program Falls Short of White House Target
Nicole Cantello, president of AFGE Local 704, called the scale unprecedented. “We’ve never had a probationary mass firing in the 33 years I’ve been at EPA,” she said.
Jeremy Symons, a former EPA climate adviser, described the transition as the most “chaotic” in agency history, contrasting it with previous administration changes that “was defined by different policy agendas, but not this vindictive purge of public servants.”
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