Commendations, cash awards, positive reviews. Then they were fired for poor performance.

USA Today

28-02-2025

Commendations, cash awards, positive reviews. Then they were fired for poor performance.
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Thousands of IRS employees laid off as tax refund season gets underway
Thousands of IRS employees were laid off, primarily affecting President Biden's expansion hires aimed at tax enforcement on wealthy taxpayers.
Samantha Leach had been thrilled eight months ago to find a job she loved, working with a team that appreciated her skills and enthusiasm when she went to work at the federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
That joy came crashing down earlier this month when she learned she was among tens of thousands of probationary federal government employees abruptly fired.
Even a recent performance review with a perfect score of five out of five couldn't protect her as President Donald Trump moved to fire the vast majority of the federal government's probationary employees.
The reference to poor job performance in her termination letter was an additional gutting blow, she said.
'I was good at my job, very good at my job, and I wanted to stay being good at my job,' she said. 'I did everything right. Literally. And I still got fired. So for someone like me who wants nothing more in the world than to fit somewhere and contribute, to be fired when I'm doing that is kind of soul crushing.'
Like Leach, dozens of former federal workers tell USA TODAY reporters they were particularly hurt and angry that their termination letters cited poor work despite receiving performance awards, or years of positive performance reviews. Several fear the letter could keep them from getting other government jobs or even follow them into the private sector.
Each of the seven former employees interviewed for this article had received commendations, cash awards or multiple positive reviews yet were told they were being let go because of poor performance.
On Monday, Hampton Dellinger, who leads a federal whistleblower protection entity called the Office of Special Counsel, said the mass firings of probationary federal employees appear to be illegal because the termination letters don't cite specifics to each of the employees.
On Wednesday the Merit Systems Protection Board, which protects federal workers against partisan politics and illegal employment practices, reinstated six fired employees in six different federal agencies so Dellinger and the Office of Special Counsel can further investigate.
When asked for a response to the Board's decision or what the White House wanted to say to employees with positive reviews who received a disparaging termination letter, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement 'President Trump is working every day to deliver on the American people's mandate to eliminate wasteful spending and make federal agencies more efficient, which includes removing probationary employees who are not mission critical."
'As far as a federal job, I think I'm screwed'
Tony Ruiz, of Orange County, Calif., was fired on Feb. 3, just ten days before his probation as a Veteran Service Representative for Veterans Affairs was supposed to end.
The disabled Army veteran said he was recruited after 15 years in the private sector to help veterans with their claims, such as getting a medical procedure approved or adding a spouse to their policy. He said he often handled up to 40 claims a day.
He was aghast that the termination letter criticized his "unacceptable performance."
In August, Ruiz was the first employee in his division to win an employee of the quarter award, which came with a $1,000 cash prize and was presented by Veterans Affairs Undersecretary Joshua Jacobs. His performance report, reviewed by USA TODAY, is positive, with Ruiz receiving an "exceptional" scoring in half of the categories.
'You're telling me (that) me one of their best employees, who was awarded money, who was an employee of the quarter … I'm a bum. I'm a poor performer?' he said.
He had a hard time even leaving the house at first and is taking some time to recover from 'the punch,' he said.
'As far as a federal job I think I'm screwed,' he said. 'I'm heartbroken, I'm upset. I don't think any American federal employee deserves this, especially a veteran.'
'This is the official record now'
Last year, Megan Ruxton took a pay cut from her private-sector job with a digital health technology company to join the Food and Drug Administration as a social scientist with the Center for Tobacco Products. She helped screen tobacco products before reaching the market to ensure they would not worsen the harmful effects of tobacco for adults or appeal to children.
She had hoped that she and other probationary employees would be spared from the cuts because their work was in the public interest and it was funded through tobacco industry fees, not taxpayers.
But last Saturday she was home in Indianapolis with her husband when the bad news hit.
More: 'It's a lie': Federal workers incensed by performance language in termination letters
What angered her the most was the boilerplate language blaming poor performance. Her personnel record reviewed by USA TODAY shows she only received favorable reviews.
'I am getting choked up now just talking about it. Like many of my colleagues, I've always been the best at anything I do. I have never been told that my performance is inadequate. Ever,' Ruxton said. 'They said our employment was no longer in the public interest. Forgive my language but bull----.'
What's more, she worries the termination will hurt her chances of landing a new job in the federal government or the private sector.
'I hope that people understand, but this is the official record now. If I am asked if I have ever been terminated from a position, I am going to have to say yes and I may or may not be given the opportunity to explain why,' she said. 'I think to some degree there are people out there who will see this and understand that this is not representative of who I am. But I can't guarantee that.'
'It was very insulting'
About six months ago, aquatic scientist Robyn Smyth publicly announced that she successfully completed her probationary period as a program director in the Environmental Biology division at the National Science Foundation, a position she said she worked decades to get.
Then a couple of weeks ago, Smyth learned from her union, the American Federation of Government Employees, that the agency had changed the length of the probationary period and she was actually still on probation. Last Tuesday, Smyth was fired.
'They told 168 of us in a meeting we no longer have our jobs ‒ and that they weren't done cutting,' she said.
'Our building is filled with accomplished scientists who have climbed through the ranks of our profession and now they're being treated like lazy people who don't want to do their jobs,' she said.
Smyth, an ecologist and former college professor, said she was hurt that her termination letter said "further employment was not in the interest of the American public."
"It was very insulting," she said.
'I just feel a sense of emptiness'
For five years, Allie Mitchell, 30, worked her way up in the National Institute on Aging from a contract employee to a supervisory position where she conducted research and advised on initiatives for Alzheimer's Disease and related dementia research. But Saturday she was let go in a mass purge of the department.
'I just feel a sense of emptiness. Like I feel I've done everything right. I studied hard, worked in a lab, worked as a contractor to get this job,' Mitchell said. "And they just fired us and said it was because of your performance and that's not true. I have awards, great performance reviews. I exceeded expectations.'
The work was personal for Mitchell. Her 87-year-old grandmother Gail Mitchell suffers from early-stage Alzheimer's.
"I just want to do my work, heal people, help my people like my nana," she said.
Mitchell also wants to believe there a remote chance she might be rehired.
'I have a little bit of hope that somehow I'll be able to go back, but, for now, I have to plan for what's next,' Mitchell said. 'I don't think everything that happened can be this way, Maybe I'm naive. We'll see.'