- Around 60 probationary employees at the Office of Personnel Management were terminated via video call.
- The fired employees were told they would lose access at 3 p.m. ET.
- Two employees told BI that union representatives were not present on the call.
Dozens of probationary employees at the Office of Personnel Management were fired in a group video call Thursday afternoon and told their accounts would be deactivated by 3 p.m. ET, around 20 minutes after the call began.
"You will receive your termination notice via email shortly, and it will include the reason for termination," an official said on the call, according to a recording viewed by BI.
"As a result, your employment with the Office of Personnel Management will end today," the official said. "Your physical and IT system access will be deactivated by 3 p.m. ET today, and we ask that you gather your personal belongings and exit the premises by 3 pm ET as well."
Two probationary employees told BI that around 60 people were on the call. They asked to remain anonymous; BI has verified their identities.
BI reviewed a screenshot of an email one probationary employee received earlier this afternoon with the subject line "URGENT MEETING MUST ATTEND."
An original call was scheduled between 2:00 and 2:30 pm ET, though no officials ever joined. Around 2:30 pm, employees received an invitation for another meeting, where the mass termination was announced.
After the second meeting ended, one employee said they received a follow-up email with details about their termination.
A probationary employee at a federal agency has either worked in a career position for less than a year, or for less than two years in an expected service appointment that didn't require a competitive hiring process.
The two employees told BI that union representatives were not present on the call. Union officials at AFGE confirmed the terminations, and said that representatives were not in the meeting.
Representatives for OPM and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Do you work at OPM or another federal agency? Share your experience and thoughts with these reporters at [email protected] and [email protected], or via Signal at alicetecotzky.05 and julianakaplan.33.
