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Layoffs, furloughs and callbacks. Almost daily drops of new White House policies disrupt Vermont's workforce.
https://vtdigger.org/2025/02/14/layoffs-furloughs-and-callbacks-almost-daily-drops-of-new-white-house-policies-disrupt-vermonts-workforce/Just hours after Brooke Rollins was sworn in as secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., Thursday, in Vermont, Richard Amore received a 7:30 p.m. email from his human resources office saying he was terminated effective immediately. Amore had served as the head of economic development for USDA’s Rural Development team for just four months.
“We’re a staff of about 30. We’ve lost 5 — all probationary employees,” Amore said, speaking about the Rural Development office, adding that some had been very recently hired. “It breaks my heart what happened yesterday. I’m committed to the rural communities and you’re taking away the resources, the funding,” he added.
Amore’s team is not alone. Several thousand so-called probationary employees at USDA regional offices across the country also were suddenly laid off, including within the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the National Forest Service.
The recent move to fire probationary employees across the federal government is just the latest of several actions that President Donald Trump has taken since starting his second term that have roiled parts of Vermont’s workforce. Last week’s temporary freeze on federal funding has been resolved for some of those affected, while others continue to await payment. And the end to all activity by the U.S. Agency for International Development, also called USAID, has left local contractors and volunteers reeling.
...
“We’re a staff of about 30. We’ve lost 5 — all probationary employees,” Amore said, speaking about the Rural Development office, adding that some had been very recently hired. “It breaks my heart what happened yesterday. I’m committed to the rural communities and you’re taking away the resources, the funding,” he added.
Amore’s team is not alone. Several thousand so-called probationary employees at USDA regional offices across the country also were suddenly laid off, including within the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the National Forest Service.
The recent move to fire probationary employees across the federal government is just the latest of several actions that President Donald Trump has taken since starting his second term that have roiled parts of Vermont’s workforce. Last week’s temporary freeze on federal funding has been resolved for some of those affected, while others continue to await payment. And the end to all activity by the U.S. Agency for International Development, also called USAID, has left local contractors and volunteers reeling.
...