Where the 200,000 federal employees most vulnerable to DOGE's latest firing sweep live and work
![A sign for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management](../themes/icons/grey.gif)
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- Many federal probationary employees have been let go, such as some OPM and Forest Service workers.
- BI looked at which states and agencies have the most federal workers who have been on the job for less than a year.
- Many work at the Department of Veterans Affairs and military departments.
The latest wave of federal government firings is focused on recent hires β thousands of whom work for military offices or live in California.
Workers are generally considered "probationary" if they have less than one year of experience in their current role; for some agencies the probationary period can be longer. These workers typically lack the ability to appeal their removal and have fewer protections.
As of May 2024, data from the Office of Personnel Management showed the government has more than 200,000 people in cabinet-level and independent agencies who have been working for less than a year.
Business Insider looked at the latest employment data from the Office of Personnel Management to get a rough sense of how many workers could be affected. As of May 2024, the OPM data showed the Department of Veterans Affairs had over 56,000 workers with less than a year of service, though the department has said many recent hires are exempt from the current cuts. Many other people work for military departments, with over 19,500 civilian workers in the Department of the Army.
The following chart shows departments and agencies with more than 1,000 civilian workers who had been there for under a year.
California and Washington, DC, are home to many federal workers with less than a year of service. OPM data showed that California had more than 15,000 people as of May 2024, DC had nearly 12,500 people, and Virginia had about 12,400.
While exemptions exist, including for many positions deemed critical, many people could be potentially susceptible. Some employees have been targeted for underperforming, though some have told BI they were fired even with strong performance reviews.
To be sure, agencies are handling probationary employees differently, and not all agencies have alerted staff of changes yet. Some agencies are preserving the overwhelming majority of their probationary workers, while others are letting go of larger shares.
"The probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment," an OPM spokesperson said in a statement. "Agencies are taking independent action in light of the recent hiring freeze and in support of the President's broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government to better serve the American people at the highest possible standard."
Some congressional representatives have argued that though federal law permits probationary employees to be fired due to performance, it doesn't permit mass firings without individualized performance reviews.
A statement from Everett Kelley, President of the American Federation of Government Employees, a federal workers union, said, "This administration has abused the probationary period to conduct a politically driven mass firing spree, targeting employees not because of performance, but because they were hired before Trump took office."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Who has already been affected
As of Friday afternoon, departments and agencies such as the Department of Education, US Forest Service, and General Services Administration have begun firing probationary employees.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said on Thursday the department let over 1,000 workers go. The department argued the cuts would save over $98 million annually, though the vast majority of probationary employees kept their jobs.
"Those dismissed today include non-bargaining unit probationary employees who have served less than a year in a competitive service appointment or who have served less than two years in an excepted service appointment," a news release said, adding that a majority of the probationary workers were exempt because "they serve in mission-critical positions."
A few dozen probationary OPM employees were laid off Thursday afternoon and instructed to leave the building within half an hour. One OPM worker who had been working there for under a year and was let go this week said they thought they would be building a longer-term career at OPM.
"I always heard that federal jobs were good, the benefits were good, the pay was good," they said.
Firings of probationary employees have also rocked the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, Department of Energy, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dennis Lapcewich, the vice president of the Forest Service Council of the National Federation of Federal Employees union, told BI the jobs of about 3,400 probationary workers were cut.
Are you a federal employee who has been let go? Reach out to these reporters to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com and nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.