The Veterans Affairs Bureau fired 1,400 employees on Monday amid protests against a lack of transparency from the agency after 1,000 workers were x earlier this month.
The VA said the individuals rejected were “non-conflict serious” probation officers who have served less than two years, according to a department statement.
The agency defined non-mission critical positions as positions related to diversity, inclusion and equity “inside other roles.” Their fire also insisted on saving more than $83 million a year on VA – redirected towards healthcare, benefits and services for veterans.
“Though these and other recent HR decisions are extremely difficult, VAs are focused on allocating resources to support as many veterans, families, caregivers and survivors as possible,” the VA office said. Director Doug Collins said in a statement. “These moves will not hurt VA's healthcare, benefits, or beneficiaries. In fact, veterans will notice a change for the better.”
The move follows the firing of 1,000 probation VA employees on February 13th. This is a decision that sparked rage and condemnation between Democrats and groups of veterans.
Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a ranking member of the Senate Veterans Committee, called his latest termination “illegal termination.”
“Doug Collins continues to place the benefits of veterans last in the additional indiscriminate termination of VA employees,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “These ends are already undermining the department's ability to provide timely, quality care and benefits to veterans, especially as they work to serve more veterans than ever before. Masu.”
He adds: “These men and women were deliberately fired because Doug Collins considers them just stats in the press release,” eroding trust in the VA, recruiting and maintaining talent. Warns that damage the engine's abilities.
The end led by a part of the Trump administration's bid to cull government efficiency and 2.4 million civil servant workers, employing nearly 480,000 people within the VA that provides lifelong care and benefits to the 9 It created confusion. Million Veterans.
Last week, Democrats said they were unhappy with failing to respond to multiple inquiries about which roles were cut and how staffing affected the benefits of VA offices or veterans. .
“There's almost completely lacking transparency and communication here,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) told reporters over the phone Thursday. “I don't know who's in charge of these fires. I don't know if it's the government's Efficiency Bureau, the White House, or who.”
Meanwhile, the VA said Monday that there are still nearly 40,000 probation employees across the department, with the majority being exempt from firing. Because they are mission-critical positions, they are primarily in favor of benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.
The agency also said it is “continuing to hire more than 300,000 mission-critical positions” who are exempt from government-wide employment freezes.
