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posted ago by Gatherer ago by Gatherer +59 / -0

The cuts are part of President Donald Trump’s wide scale effort to downsize the federal workforce, specifically an edict from the self-styled Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, to fire all probationary employees. THAT INCLUDES NEW EMPLOYEES AND ALSO EXPERIENCED FEDERAL WORKERS WHO TOOK NEW POSITIONS, INCLUDING PROMOTIONS, WITHIN THE PAST YEAR.

There are about 20,000 federal civilian employees in Minnesota. It’s not known how many of those are probationary, but roughly two dozen spoke to the Minnesota Star Tribune about losing their jobs and all knew of others in their departments who had been dismissed. Many did not want to be named because they hoped to be rehired, were looking for new jobs or feared they would be harassed for speaking out.

Nationwide, some departments were hit harder than others. More than 2,000 workers were fired from the Interior Department, which includes the national parks, while close to 400 were laid off from the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the New York Times.