Tag Archives: Government Employees

Elon Musk Tells Federal Workers to Detail Work in an Email or Lose Their Jobs

Elon Musk Tells Federal Workers to Detail Work in an Email or Lose Their Jobs

Elon Musk threw federal workers into further confusion and alarm on Saturday when he ordered them to summarize their accomplishments for the week, warning that a failure to do so would be taken as a resignation. Shortly after his demand, which he posted on X, civil servants across the government received an email from the Office of Personnel Management with …

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Firings at FDA Decimated Teams Reviewing AI and Food Safety

Firings at FDA Decimated Teams Reviewing AI and Food Safety

In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration hired experts in surgical robots and pioneers in artificial intelligence. It scooped up food chemists, lab-safety monitors and diabetes specialists who helped make needle pricks and test strips relics of the past. Trying to keep up with breakneck advances in medical technology and the demands of a public troubled by additives like …

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National Science Foundation Fires 168 Workers on Trump’s Order

National Science Foundation Fires 168 Workers on Trump’s Order

The Trump administration on Tuesday cut more than 10 percent of the work force at the National Science Foundation, an independent agency that supports cutting-edge scientific research, adding to the widespread purge of federal workers with probationary status that began last week. Michael England, a spokesman for the foundation, said in a statement that the agency fired 168 probationary employees, …

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USAID Lifesaving Aid Remains Halted Despite Rubio’s Promise

USAID Lifesaving Aid Remains Halted Despite Rubio’s Promise

When Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last month that lifesaving humanitarian work would be exempt from a freeze on foreign aid, global health workers breathed a collective sigh of relief. But a new directive has put such exemptions on hold. Several senior employees at the U.S.A.I.D. Bureau of Global Health received an email Tuesday telling them to “please hold …

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Trump Moves to Invalidate Recent Labor Agreements With Federal Workers

Trump Moves to Invalidate Recent Labor Agreements With Federal Workers

In the latest effort to put his stamp on the federal work force, President Trump on Friday issued a memorandum invalidating government labor contracts finalized in the last 30 days before a presidential inauguration. The policy applies to certain contracts negotiated toward the end of the Biden administration, the memo says. Such “last-minute, lame-duck” agreements, it states, “are purposefully designed …

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N.I.H. Trials and Essential Hiring May Continue, Acting Director Says

N.I.H. Trials and Essential Hiring May Continue, Acting Director Says

Clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health and at organizations it funds may continue, and patients may still travel to trial sites to participate in research, despite the Trump administration’s restrictions on travel and communications, the acting director of the N.I.H., Dr. Matthew Memoli, said in an email to staff on Monday. While Dr. Memoli’s announcement provided some clarification, …

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Trump Administration Temporarily Mutes Federal Health Officials-007

Trump Administration Temporarily Mutes Federal Health Officials-007

The Trump administration The Trump administration, moving quickly to clamp down on health and science agencies, has canceled a string of scientific meetings and instructed federal health officials to refrain from all public communications, including upcoming reports focused on the nation’s escalating bird flu crisis. Experts who serve on outside advisory panels on a range of topics, from antibiotic resistance …

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The Federal Work Force Grew Briskly Under Biden. It’s Still Historically Low.

The Federal Work Force Grew Briskly Under Biden. It’s Still Historically Low.

When it comes to the federal payroll, two seemingly contradictory things are true. One, the Biden administration went on a hiring spree that expanded the government work force at the fastest pace since the 1980s. And two, it remains near a record low as a share of overall employment. In the four years separating President-elect Donald J. Trump’s two terms, …

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Remote Work for Civil Servants Faces a Challenge Under Trump

Remote Work for Civil Servants Faces a Challenge Under Trump

When the Social Security Administration signed a five-year extension of work-from-home arrangements for tens of thousands of employees in early December, many at the agency expressed relief. But the reprieve may be short-lived. At a news conference two weeks later, President-elect Donald J. Trump railed against the deal and said he would go to court to undo it. “If people …

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