(NewsNation) — More than 1,000 people were cut from the Department of Veterans Affairs Workforce last week.
Employees fired included researchers looking into cancer treatments, opioid addiction and burn pit exposure, as well as prosthetic specialists.
The Department of Government Efficiency, which was created by President Donald Trump under an executive order, claims that letting go off these workers could save $98 million per year, but concerns are growing over what this now means for veterans.
One of the fired employees, Andrew Lennox, a 10-year Marine veteran who was part of a new supervisor training program at the VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said he has still been helping out where he can on a volunteer capacity.
He found out he was fired around 7 p.m. last Thursday. Lennox was a probationary employee, meaning he wasn’t guaranteed a position, but the email he received said it was a “termination for cause.”
“The thing about it is, I hadn’t even had an evaluation. My supervisor didn’t even know this was happening. Our chief of staff didn’t know this is happening,” Lennox said on “NewsNation Now.”
Lennox was a new employee, and he said he understood that if reductions had to be made, it would be people like him let go.
However, long-term and long-time employees who had accepted promotions or transferred agencies were still in probationary status, meaning they got fewer protections.
“I’m interpreting it as they found an opportunity to cut a lot of people in a pretty dishonest way,” Lennox said.