That didn’t take long. After a court order Friday paved the way for thousands of USAID staffers to be placed on administrative leave (more on that below), employees received a notice Sunday alerting them that not only will most USAID direct hires worldwide be placed on leave, but that 1,600 personnel in the U.S. will be fired — or, in government speak, subject to a “reduction-in-force.”
“As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designation personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” the notice stated.
It isn’t clear which staff at USAID will be affected by the 1,600 firings, my colleague Elissa Miolene reports.
“Is this civil service? Foreign service? All?” asks one USAID staffer. “No clarity.”
“There’s more order and yet they still are producing chaos,” the staffer says. “We keep getting these big, scary emails on weekends. There’s no day free of the scare tactics and mental torture.”
Over the weekend, staff members started to receive letters indicating their employment was terminated. My colleague Sara Jerving obtained copies of termination notices — including to someone stationed abroad — in which Peter Marocco, USAID’s acting deputy administrator, said they were “being released” from their “competitive level” because that “competitive area is being eliminated.”
USAID employees also received more details over the weekend about the State Department team tasked with recalling staff members abroad. One USAID employee abroad tells Sara that while this new coordination team may be able to handle simple logistics, it doesn’t have a clear mandate for families with complicated situations.
Sara was informed of one case where USAID’s finance team called a staff member's child’s school abroad to inquire about refunding the tuition already paid — for a child with special needs.
“It’s inhumane and humiliating,” the USAID employee abroad tells Sara.
Read: USAID to cut 1,600 staff, place nearly all direct hires on leave
Read more: USAID staff start receiving termination letters