VA fires 1,400 more staffers in second round of workforce reductions
Veterans Affairs leaders dismissed more than 1,400 additional probationary employees on Monday evening, the second round of mass layoffs at the department this month.
Monday’s dismissals included bargaining-unit employees who have served less than two years in their posts. Officials said the moves did not impact any mission critical jobs, but did not provide any specifics of the types of assignments that were eliminated.
“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,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. “These moves will not hurt VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries.”
Officials said specifically that Veterans Crisis Line responders were not affected by the latest or past dismissals. But workers within the department said that support staff for the crisis line were among the workers let go.
Collins insisted that the dismissals will produce “a change for the better” at the department. Officials estimate the job eliminations will save about $83 million annually, money that will be reassigned to other benefits and health care priorities.
On Feb. 13, VA leaders announced they would lay off about 1,000 probationary employees from non-bargaining units, a move they claimed would save about $98 million. In January, the department dismissed about 60 employees whose work focused on diversity and inclusion efforts, which President Donald Trump has labeled as harmful to the workforce.
The nearly 2,500 employees forced out of Veterans Affairs so far amounts to about 0.5% of the nearly 480,000 department workforce. Officials have not said how many workers have taken voluntary buyouts offered by the White House in the last few weeks.
Like past workforce reductions, Monday’s move drew immediate condemnation from Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“I am deeply disturbed by Secretary Collins’ continued actions that are harming veterans, military spouses, civil servants and their families,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “To say that these firings will not affect veterans’ care and benefits is a lie.”
Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., echoed those concerns.
“Doug Collins continues to put the interests of veterans last with additional indiscriminate firings of VA employees who serve veterans, including patient-facing employees,” he said in a statement.
“These men and women were arbitrarily fired because Doug Collins views them as nothing more than a statistic for his press release. Make no mistake, these actions are destroying the trust veterans have in VA and will do long-term damage to VA’s ability to recruit and retain talented doctors, nurses and others wanting to pursue a career serving veterans.”
VA has about 40,000 probationary employees across the country, but officials said most are exempt from personnel actions because they serve in mission-critical positions.
They also said that about two-thirds of all VA positions are exempt from a federal hiring freeze put in place by Trump in January. But lawmakers and VA workers have said that efforts to fill those posts have slowed in recent weeks as managers try to wade through the new administration’s employment restrictions.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
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10 federal workers, including at least 3 veterans, fired at the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee
James Stancil had just walked into Zablocki VA Medical Center for second shift Monday. He put his backpack away, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat in on a five-minute meeting. Not 15 minutes later, his supervisor told him to check his email.
A new email waited for him, the subject line read, “Notification of Termination During Probationary Period.” He scanned the email in disbelief. He settled on a line that would rattle in his head the rest of the day:
“Unfortunately, the Agency finds that your performance has not met the burden to demonstrate that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest. For this reason, the Agency informs you that the Agency is removing you from your position with the Agency and the federal civil service effective February 24, 2025.”
“I find that offensive because my performance is beyond the burden to demonstrate my ability to be of service,” Stancil, 61, told the Journal Sentinel.
Stancil’s performance review in November had been top-notch, a union official confirmed. He’d served as a supply technician for the VA’s health care clinic full-time since April but had worked for the VA since May 2023, making sure the clinic had medical supplies to care for its patients.
Stancil did more than order scalpels and alcohol wipes to the clinic. A U.S. Army veteran who served overseas from 1985 to 1989, he could connect to patients on a deeper level as a peer, as a widower, as someone in recovery from alcoholism.
“As a veteran, seeing veterans, you encounter a lot of people who need assistance. It’s not part of your job, but you can see people and ask, ‘Hey, how can I help you?'” Stancil said. “That’s just an attitude you take everywhere and it’s why Zablocki has the reputation it does.”
Stancil was one of about 10 people fired Monday from the Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee. At least three, like Stancil, were veterans and all of them were technically still in their probationary period, which requires a yearlong commitment to the VA. One of his peers who was also terminated had one day remaining before they could be considered a career employee, a fact confirmed by Michele Malone, president of Local 3 AFGE, the union that represents Zablocki.
The termination letter came from Tracey Therit, chief human capital officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs. It was the first time Malone, who has worked at Zablocki for more than three decades, had seen her name.
“This is a nightmare. I have never in my 36 years ever experienced anything like this,” Malone said.
Zablocki employs about 2,000 people, many of whom are veterans, Malone said.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat, condemned the firings.
“To the richest man in the world and President Trump, VA services and veterans are waste, fraud, and abuse. I strongly disagree,” Moore said in a statement. “These indiscriminate firings completely undermine our commitment to our veterans. Instead of firing veterans, it is time to fire Elon Musk.”
Like thousands of federal workers fired by the Trump administration in recent days, those who lost their jobs at Zablocki were all probationary employees, according to an email obtained by the Journal Sentinel. They were fired “effective immediately,” the email said.
Neither Stancil nor any of the other people terminated were offered a severance package or a courtesy phone call thanking them for their service. When the Journal Sentinel reached out to Stancil, he was filling out unemployment forms. On his way home from work Monday, he applied for a delivery position at Jimmy John’s.
The firings came as workers at Zablocki — which provides crucial health care, mental health counseling and job training to veterans — were already reeling from a demand to explain what they did last week from billionaire Elon Musk, who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency.
“The terminations were in multiple teams, and we’re quickly assessing how this will impact our operations and what measures we need to put in place to continue to provide safe, high-quality care,” Laurie Vail, the center’s acting executive director, wrote in the Tuesday morning email.
She added, “We’re going to feel the impact of the immediate loss of our team members who have stood alongside us serving our Veterans with dedication and pride. I empathize for each of these employees whose lives were changed so abruptly yesterday. We will miss them and are grateful for their service.”
Vail could not be reached for an interview.
The firings at Zablocki came the same day a top federal government watchdog said that the mass firings of probationary employees appear to be illegal and asked a specialized labor board to pause the terminations of six employees in six different federal agencies so the watchdog organization could investigate. The employees in question were fired by the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and the Office of Personnel Management.
Stancil said he would barely be able to pay his rent this month, but beyond that he isn’t sure. He’s already scoped out the nearest food pantries in case he’s unsuccessful in finding a job before his finances turn dire.
Like a number of veterans who go to the VA, Stancil first went because he struggled with alcoholism. Zablocki had a work therapy program that supported him while he stopped drinking. He successfully went through the VA’s rehabilitation program and, as part of the program, began working at the VA hospital as a supply technician.
“It was extremely beneficial in helping me maintain my sobriety, making sure I was on solid ground,” Stancil said. “My situation was perfect. Now I have to find another job.”
Stancil made about $42,000 a year. He’s all for cutting wasteful spending, but said he feels cheated. He doesn’t blame the VA hospital. His ire is aimed at President Donald Trump.
“That one man lied to the American people. He didn’t tell the American people he was going to fire a bunch of veterans,” Stancil said. “He hasn’t done one thing he said he was going to do.”
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Erin Mansfield of USA TODAY contributed.
