Marie Owens-Powell, president of the union that represents more than 8,500 employees of the Environmental Protection Agency, did not mince words during a Friday call about morale among its members: “It’s bad. I’ve been with the agency for over 33 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Starting Wednesday morning, more than 1,100 employees at the EPA received an email, which has been viewed by CBS News, warning they could be immediately fired because of their probationary status as an employee with less than a year in their current role.
“As a probationary/trial period employee, the agency has the right to immediately terminate you pursuant to 5 CFR § 315.804,” read the email, which was sent to employees by Kimberly Patrick, principal deputy assistant administrator for mission support of the EPA.
According to Owens-Powell, employees with a range of experience received the emails — some with less than a year at the EPA, as well as tenured employees who recently moved into new positions inside the agency.
“As far as we can tell, EPA workers were the only ones to receive a notice from their agency, intended to go to probationary employees to terrorize and scare them into thinking they were on their way out,” she said.
CBS News reached out to the EPA and the White House about the email, as well as to confirm how many government employees received it, and is awaiting a response.
Owens-Powell says she was on a national call with other union leaders who represent workers at various government agencies, and no one else said their probationary employees received such an email.
“Every day, folks are afraid to turn their computers on,” said Owens-Powell, “They don’t know what message will be coming out next.”
In addition to the concerns over their jobs, there is also stress and confusion over the Office of Management and Budget’s temporary pause on government funds.
“Hundreds of EPA grantees are completely locked out of the grant system,” says Michelle Roos, president of the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit formed in 2017 by hundreds of former EPA employees who work to maintain the integrity of the agency. “They are unable to process payroll, they are unable to pay invoices, they’re unable to do the critical work that they were granted to do.”
Even though the OMB memorandum was rescinded, agency employees still lack clarity and are being told not to communicate with grant recipients until new guidance is issued, says Roos.
“Most folks are terrified to speak to grantees beyond, ‘I’m so sorry, I can’t talk to you,'” she said.
There is a growing concern among grant recipients that if they are unable to receive certain approvals for required plans and goals, they will fall out of compliance and lose funding.
“These actions are unconstitutional and are unauthorized by law,” said Jillian Blanchard, vice president of climate change and environmental justice for Lawyers For Good Government, a nonprofit of thousands of pro-bono lawyers across the country that is working with the unions to help protect government employees and their jobs.
“Ninety-five percent of the funding going to EPA has not only been appropriated, but is locked in, legally obligated grant funding. The Constitution does not give the president a line item veto over Congress’s spending decisions,” said Blanchard.
While the mood inside the EPA appears grim, Owens-Powell and Blanchard both say they have seen a surge of new membership and participation in their organizations, as EPA workers contend with the flurry of executive orders and emails that have left many on edge about their futures.
On a Reddit page dedicated to discussing the buyout offer for federal workers, one poster wrote, “I was looking for any way to get out of this fresh hell. But now I am fired up to make these goons as frustrated as possible.” Another wrote, “I’ll continue to do my job and fight for the position I’ve earned. It took me 10 years of applying and 20 years experience in my field to get here.”
“It’s backfired and people are furious,” says Owens-Powell. More than 4,000 employees tried to access town hall meetings the union organized this week to address their concerns, she says. “We’re just trying to help them channel that energy.”
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