VA plans to cut 83,000 jobs but won’t say how many have been let go in Kansas

• The VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System won’t confirm the number of employees laid off at its Topeka and Leavenworth locations.
• The layoffs come after a memo from the Trump administration called for the VA to reduce its workforce by 80,000 employees.
• The VA says the layoffs won’t negatively impact veteran care, but critics doubt the assertion.
• The American Federation of Government Workers, which represents VA employees, has condemned the layoffs.

The Veterans Affairs Eastern Kansas Health Care System won’t confirm the scale of layoffs at its two facilities, but more could come after a leaked memo from the Trump administration called its national workforce to be reduced by 83,000.

The administration announced it dismissed 2,400 employees nationwide since Feb. 13. The dismissals were among probationary employees who had served less than a year in their current role in “non-mission critical” roles.

The Topeka Capital-Journal asked the East Kansas VA how many employees had been terminated on Feb. 25. On March 5, the administration said some employees were let go in the state but didn’t share how many, their roles or from what sub-branch of the VA the employees worked for.

“The Veterans Affairs facilities in the state of Kansas have dismissed a small number of probationary staff statewide. This decision will have no negative effect on Veteran health care, benefits or other services and will allow VA to focus more effectively on its core mission of serving Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors. We cannot discuss specific personnel matters due to privacy concerns,” a VA spokesperson said.

VA East Kansas director A. Rudy Klopfer told to a group of employees said that two Veterans Health Administration workers were fired in east Kansas, though it’s unclear if they worked at VA facilities in Topeka or Leavenworth. But more people may have been laid off at both campuses that worked for the two other sub-branches of the VA, the Veterans Benefits Administration and the National Cemetery Administration, which usually have fewer employment protections than the Veterans Health Administration.

Reduction in Force Memo

A memo sent from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was sent to heads of executive departments and agencies across the U.S. last week directing them to make plans to reduce their workforces.

“The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt. At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public. Instead, tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hardworking American citizens,” the memo states.

The plans are due on March 13, and should include ways to increase productivity, reduce property footprints, shrink budget toplines and significantly reduce the number of full-time employees. The memo does say that agencies that provide direct services to citizens, like the VA, shall not implement any plans until it is reviewed by OMB and OPM.

“The OMB/OPM memo explicitly statesthat any RIF/reorganization plans should not move ahead until OMB and OPM ensure these plans have a ‘positive effect’ on the delivery of Veterans’ health care. VA is working on its plan now. VA intends to be transparent with Veterans, family members, caregivers and survivors as this process unfolds,” a VA spokesperson said.

In a virtual meeting shared with The Capital-Journal, Dominique Henderson, assistant director of the East Kansas HCS, told employees the protection isn’t as strong as other entities that are excluded from the reduction-in-force memo like the Postal Service or executive branch.

“That is just basically stating that before the agency would implement any kind of RIF plan, OMB and OPM would have to approve it. That is not stating that it is up there with executive office, the Postal Service, border security as an exclusion entity,” Henderson said.

Otherwise, little had been shared by VHA employees about its reduction-in-force plan at the time of the meeting on Feb. 28.

“We certainly have put those questions forward to the leadership above us,” Henderson told employees. “I wish we had certainly more information to communicate, but we do not at this time.”

Union not responding to requests for comment

Several attempts over a week to reach the American Federation of Government Workers 906, which represents VA employees in Topeka, hasn’t yielded a response. Nationally, the AFGE has repeatedly condemned the mass layoffs of probationary employees and challenged them in court.

“Longer waits at VA hospitals, fewer inspectors ensuring the safety of our meats and produce, less research into cures for debilitating and deadly diseases, more risks for air travelers, longer waits for Social Security enrollment and passports, and the list goes on,” said AFGE President Everett Kelley.  

At the union’s office in Topeka, a flier advises employees how they should respond to recent federal actions. On the federal hiring freeze, it told employees that most employees with the Veterans Health Administration, the sub-branch of the VA that implements health care programs, are exempt from the freeze.

It didn’t say the same for employees at the Veterans Benefits Administration or the National Cemetery Administration, the other two sub-branches of the VA, and warns of negative consequences to the freeze.

“We know the hiring freeze will negatively impact the delivery of health care and benefits to veterans and their families. With less staff to meet the day-to-day demands of the nation’s largest health care system, it will also negatively impact employee morale and may cause patient and employee safety issues,” the flier says.

In response to an executive order demanding agencies return to in-person work, the union said the order is in conflict with collective bargaining agreements. The memo was directed at non-bargaining employees, but made clear that a “phased implementation plan” for bargaining-unit employees is forthcoming.

It also called the deferred resignations, where employees were offered a couple months salary if they resign, a “bait and switch effort to pressure federal workers to resign in exchange for an unenforceable promise of continued employment.”

VA directed to cut more staff

The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to cut more than 80,000 staffers, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press. Its goal is to return staffing levels to 2019, before expansion from the Biden administration and increased coverage under the 2022 PACT Act, which covers veterans impacted by toxic chemical exposure.

Last year, the VA reached its highest-ever service levels.

At a presentation to U.S. senators and representatives, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, said he’s committed to preserving the VA workforce. He also said it’d be “useful” to have an inspector general tasked with finding inefficiencies and unlawful practices working at the VA.

Last month, the VA’s IG was removed from office, one of 17 independent inspector generals dismissed under orders from the Trump administration.

“As the VA implements new federal workforce guidance and we work together to root out any waste, I am committed to making certain that the VA Workforce is preserved,” Moran said. “In that regard it would be useful to retain the inspector general to help congress better inform our decisions.

“The VA must be forthcoming with congress, (Veteran Service Organizations) and the public about how it’s implementing workforce, contract and other changes. The VA must also work to avoid or correct actions that could in any way undermine access to care and benefits that veterans and their loved ones rely on.”