The United States Department of Veteran Affairs has dismissed more than 2,400 probationary employees across the country as part of the Trump administration’s effort to improve government efficiency.
Signage at the entrance to Hershel “Woody” Williams VA Medical Center, photographed on Monday, March 3, 2025, in Huntington, West Virginia. (Ryan Fischer | The Herald-Dispatch
According to an official from a hospital workers’ union, the Trump administration’s recent staffing cuts have put a strain on the Beckley Veteran Affairs Medical Center, which was already understaffed due to previous hiring freezes.
“We’re down so many employees because we’re only hiring the bare minimum to get things done,” said Greg Bailey, local vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees 2198. “And now we’ve got people doing two and three, and some people doing four different jobs just trying to keep the facility up and running so the patients can actually get care.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced on February 13 and 24 that it had dismissed a total of 2,400 probationary employees as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to “make agencies more efficient, effective, and responsive to the American people.” The initiative is being spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
According to news reports on Wednesday, the president intends to lay off 80,000 veterans affairs employees.
Bailey reported that four of those cuts have occurred at the Beckley VA Medical Center. Employees were also laid off at the Martinsburg and Clarksburg VA Medical Centers, according to the facilities’ public affairs officers.
“At VA, we are committed to saving money so that it can be better spent on veteran care.” “We thank these employees for their service to the VA,” VA Secretary Doug Collins stated in one of the press releases.
“This was a difficult decision, but it is ultimately the right one to better support the veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors that the department exists to serve.
“To be perfectly clear: these moves will not negatively impact VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries,” according to Collins. “In the coming weeks and months, VA will be announcing plans to put these resources to work helping veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.”
According to the VA, the cuts will save the agency a total of $181 million per year, which will be used to fund health care, benefits, and services for beneficiaries.
The Beckley VA Medical Center has 30 beds for general medical and surgical care, as well as 50 beds for community living. Bailey stated that Veterans Affairs had already been on a hiring freeze since August or September. When Donald Trump took office in January, he announced a hiring freeze for all federal civilian employees.
“When you’re already at a critical shortage of nurses and administrative staff, four people really sways the scale big time,” Bailey argued. “I mean, we’re already having to reduce the number of beds that we have available because we can’t compete well enough to attract enough nurses to keep the number of beds that we’re supposed to have. We were already facing a critical shortage before they lost those four.”
Bailey stated that two of the four people fired from the Beckley facility were veterans, and that all of them had excellent performance appraisals. He stated that one employee was eight hours away from serving a full year on probation.
“They fired him for what they said was [his] performance wasn’t good enough,” Bailey told the press. “Even though…he was getting ready to get an award for the outstanding work that he had done in the department.”
He stated that all of the affected positions were low-paying administrative roles.
Bailey stated that the four were notified of their firing via email from a server in Washington, D.C. The email stated that they were fired because their performance was subpar and they were unsuitable for government work.
“Even our management tried to stop it because they weren’t even notified,” Bailey told me. “The supervisors were unaware that the employees had been terminated until they contacted their supervisor to inquire about the situation.
“So even the supervisors weren’t even aware, and they weren’t for it whatsoever,” Bailey told me. “Even they were opposed to it, and tried to do everything they could to stop them all from being terminated.”
In separate statements released Wednesday, public affairs officers for the Beckley, Clarksburg, and Martinsburg VA medical centers stated that they had each dismissed a “small number” of probationary employees and that the decision would have no negative impact on veteran health care or other services.
Cutting expenses “will allow VA to focus more effectively on its core mission of serving Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors,” according to a statement. “We cannot discuss specific personnel matters due to privacy concerns.”
A message left with the Huntington VA Medical Center was not immediately returned Wednesday, but the Huntington Herald-Dispatch reported that it had received a statement similar to those issued by the other VA medical centers, stating that it had dismissed a “small number” of probationary staff.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) said she supported Trump’s efforts to reduce the federal government. An email sent to Sen. Jim Justice’s office, R-West Virginia, was not returned on Wednesday.
“While I understand the concerns that some have regarding the administration’s efforts to look for areas where we can cut waste, fraud, and abuse, it’s just as important that we have a right-size government,” Capito told reporters.
“My focus has been and continues to be protecting our West Virginia workforce and I will monitor the DOGE efforts closely, as I have been, to fully understand the impacts and to make sure these are being conducted fairly.”
