{"id":105,"date":"2026-05-28T20:17:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=105"},"modified":"2026-05-28T20:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:17:41","slug":"they-were-told-theyd-move-on-a-year-later-many-fired-federal-employees-say-they-havent-been-able-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=105","title":{"rendered":"They were told they\u2019d move on. A year later, many fired federal employees say they haven\u2019t been able to"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As part of its effort to downsize the federal workforce in February 2025, the Trump administration conducted a mass firing of thousands of agency employees in their probationary periods, which generally last for the first year after a worker has been hired by or promoted within the government. Such staffers have weaker civil service job protections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Someone robbed the SEC during the shutdown<\/a><\/p>\n

In September 2025, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that the removals were unlawful. He didn\u2019t order agencies to reinstate affected employees, however, due to an earlier Supreme Court decision and because, as he put it, \u201cThe terminated probationary employees have moved on with their lives and found new jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, a group of former probationary employees sought to find out if their colleagues had, in fact, \u201cmoved on.\u201d Between February and March, they conducted a survey of more than 300 individuals impacted by the firings, representing 12 federal departments as well as 43 states and one territory.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The results show that many fired probationers haven\u2019t found new jobs, are experiencing poor mental health and remain concerned about their former agencies\u2019 effectiveness with reduced workforces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unemployment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most frequent answer to a question in the survey asking how long it took to find a new job was \u201cstill unemployed.\u201d Relatedly, around 80 participants reported that they have submitted more than 100 job applications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jacob Saunders, a respondent who worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for five weeks before he was fired, said that he still hasn\u2019t found a full-time job. In the meantime, he is a high school lacrosse coach, has taken on sporadic gig work and sells items on eBay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does annoy me when somebody thinks that it’s pretty simple. I’ve applied to 15 jobs in one week. I might apply for three jobs a day or two jobs a day,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ve applied to a lot of jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president in January defended his cuts to the civil service by claiming that employees who were pushed out are now in the private sector making double or triple their government salaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In contrast, the probationary survey found that, among respondents who found new roles, 49% reported that their salary is “significantly lower\u201d than what they made in the federal government with another 19% saying their salary is \u201clower.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The survey data was published by 27 UNIHTED, an organization of former National Institutes of Health employees established in response to the second Trump administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mental health\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the survey, 95% of participants responded that they experienced \u201cnew mental health symptoms that had negative impacts on personal wellbeing\u201d after being terminated.<\/p>\n

Liz Crandall, one of the respondents and a fired field ranger from the U.S. Forest Service, wasn’t surprised by that result.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m seeing it still from friends that were probationary employees that were fired. They’re still not doing well. I would almost argue they’re doing worse because it’s grief mixed with embarrassment and shame that they’re still not able to get through it,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of people have had to go on new medications and take out loans. And our health insurance is obviously taken away since we were fired.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crandall had been in her position for more than one year but had not yet received full civil service job protections because she was hired under Schedule A, a mechanism for agencies to bring on workers with disabilities that has a two-year probationary period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many civil servants hired under Schedule A who had been in their jobs between one to two years have argued that they wouldn’t have been impacted by the probationary firings if they were recruited through another pathway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly 85% of survey respondents said that their agencies were not transparent about their firings. Crandall, for example, thought she might have been spared from the removals because initially only probationary employees with less than one year in her division were terminated. But she was let go the next day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more What retiring feds should do before asking for help<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>Nothing made sense, no one had answers, HR had no idea what was happening. No one had any idea,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was so bizarre and unprecedented and chaotic and even my conservative [coworkers] were crying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise, Saunders said that his supervisor didn\u2019t know he had been fired. He was the one who informed him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Effect on agency operations\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two most common responses to a question in the survey asking about negative impacts to the public due to the probationary firings were: \u201clarger (sometimes unmanageable) workload for remaining employees\u201d and \u201closs of institutional knowledge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crandall is worried, in particular, about her former agency\u2019s continued ability to combat wildfires. Like many other USFS employees who were fired or otherwise pushed out by the Trump administration, she held a \u201cred card\u201d \u2014\u00a0meaning she was certified for firefighting duties and could be deployed as needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Government Executive <\/em>previously reported that at least 1,400 USFS employees with \u201cred cards\u201d left the agency, but officials asked some of them to volunteer to return for the 2025 fire season.<\/p>\n

Beyond personnel numbers, Crandall said that she possessed localized knowledge like locations of non-designated campsites and unofficial roads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of people having to risk their safety to go in and navigate this insane spider web of roads, they would look to people like me and say \u2018Where are the sites so that we can just go in and evacuate those directly? So we don’t have to wander while a fire is creeping up on us,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThat was really important. That’s the mixture of institutional knowledge, on-the-ground knowledge, local\/regional knowledge as well as personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Saunders and Crandall said that they were offered their positions back following court orders but declined due to fears that they would still lose their jobs through layoffs under reduction in force procedures, which is another method the Trump administration has used to reduce agency headcounts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube,\u201d Saunders said. \u201cOnce I had already gotten fired, what’s stopping it from happening again?\u201d<\/p>\n

Crandall now works for a conservation nonprofit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Office of Personnel Management, which Judge Alsup determined illegally required the probationary firings, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additional findings<\/strong><\/p>\n

The former probationers who conducted the survey noted that respondents\u2019 participation was based on self-selection rather than a random sample.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A quarter of respondents reported that they were reinstated to their federal jobs. Another 15% said they got their positions back but were then terminated later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While probationary periods are associated with workers who are new to government, around 45% of survey respondents said they previously worked for a federal agency as a contractor.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration recently launched several efforts to recruit early-career workers to serve in a federal agency.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court rejects lower court bid to review immigration judge gag order<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of former federal probationary employees surveyed more than 300 of their fired colleagues to assess their job searches, mental health and several other topics. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workforce"],"yoast_head":"\nThey were told they\u2019d move on. 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