Eric Katz

3 weeks ago | govexec.com | Eric Katz

The Agriculture Department is warning its employees it will soon identify “duplicative” or “redundant” functions to eliminate, including through the closure of offices throughout the Washington region. The changes will result in widespread layoffs across the department of nearly 100,000 employees, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a message to staff on Tuesday, who issued the cautionary note to encourage workers to voluntarily leave government.

3 weeks ago | govexec.com | Eric Katz

A federal judge on Tuesday indefinitely extended his order blocking the Trump administration from firing employees in their probationary periods at a slew of agencies, though his ruling narrowed those protected to only feds living or working in 19 states and Washington, D.C. Twenty agencies essentially conducted a large-scale reduction in force of their newly hired, or in some cases, newly promoted, employees without following the proper procedures to do so, Judge James Bredar of the U.S....

3 weeks ago | govexec.com | Eric Katz

Fred, an employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, arrived at his office Tuesday morning like most other days. He swiped his badge at the front desk and walked to his suite. When he entered, however, he instantly noticed something strange: none of his colleagues were present. His office was completely empty. Fred, who is not being identified by his real name to protect him from retaliation, checked his email. At 5:10 a.m., he had received a reduction in force notification.

3 weeks ago | nextgov.com | Eric Katz

Updated March 31 at 4:43 p.m.The Health and Human Services Department has told its employees that 10,000 of them will soon receive layoff notices, though it has not offered any details on who will be impacted or when they will learn of their fates. The uncertainty has dangled over the more than 80,000 HHS employees since Thursday, when the department first announced it was planning to shed around 25% of its workforce and half of those eliminations would come through reductions in force.

3 weeks ago | govexec.com | Eric Katz

The Health and Human Services Department has told its employees that 10,000 of them will soon receive layoff notices, though it has not offered any details on who will be impacted or when they will learn of their fates. The uncertainty has dangled over the more than 80,000 HHS employees since Thursday, when the department first announced it was planning to shed around 25% of its workforce and half of those eliminations would come through reductions in force.