The Department of Veterans on Thursday announced the dismiall of more than 1,000 employees following a recent call from the Trump administration to shrink the size of the federal workforce.
The VA says this move will save the department more than $98 million per year, allowing them to spend those resources on health care, benefits and services for veterans.
These efforts are part of the VA’s plan to refocus on its core mission: providing the best possible care and benefits to Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors, according to a statement from the VA.
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“At VA, we are focused on saving money so it can be better spent on Veteran care. We thank these employees for their service to VA. This was a tough decision, but ultimately, it’s the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins.
The VA says they currently have more than 43,000 probationary employees across the department, although a vast majority of those employees are exempt from personnel actions due to serving in mission-critical positions.
The decision on probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, came from the Office of Personnel Management.
Those exempted are also in roles that provide supporting benefits and services for VA beneficiaries or are covered under a collective bargaining agreement.
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“To be perfectly clear: these moves will not negatively impact VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries. In the coming weeks and months, VA will be announcing plans to put these resources to work helping Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors,” Collins said.
The dismissals are effective immediately according to the VA and employees have been notified.
Additional measures have been put in place to ensure VA services are not impacted and an assigned representative in each chain of command can request exemptions.
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