The email, sent Wednesday by EPA mission support official Kimberly Patrick, notifies impacted employees that they are “likely on a probationary/trial period.”
“As a probationary/trial period employee, the agency has the right to immediately terminate you,” the email says.
Nicole Cantello, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 704, which represents EPA employees in the Midwest, said that more than 1,000 employees nationwide received the email.
Cantello said she fears that this is a “prelude” for firing newer workers who have less than a year of federal service.
“We’re really concerned, deeply concerned, that the next step will be removing these employees,” she said.
The email comes after about 2 million federal employees received offers for a “buyout” to leave government work.
Cantello said she feared that between the buyout and the potential dismissal of newer staffers, the agency could lose one-tenth of its personnel, which would “decimate the agency.”
“These people work on things like getting the lead out of pipes or enforcing environmental laws like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. They work on things like Brownfields, which turn contaminated land into usable land. They work on Superfund sites, which cleans up toxic pollution,” she said.
Read more at TheHill.com.
