Text from article:

David Rice, a disabled Army paratrooper who has been on probation since joining the U.S. Department of Energy in September, also learned Thursday night that he had lost his job.

Rice, who has been working as a foreign affairs specialist on health matters relating to radiation exposure, said he’d been led to believe that his job would likely be safe. But on Thursday night, when he logged into his computer for a meeting with Japanese representatives, he saw an email saying he’d been fired.

“It’s just been chaos,” said Rice, 50, who had just bought a house in Melbourne, Florida, after he got the job.

Rice said he agrees with the Trump administration’s goal of making the government more efficient, but objects to the random, scattershot approach being taken.

Originally linked here:

https://lemmy.wtf/post/16645266

  • OutlierBlueEnglish
    291·
    5 days ago

    Wait, he’s still in his probationary period at a new job and he committed to buying a new house?! The job isn’t even really yours until you’re hired permanently. You can be let go for any reason at all. (I know this the US, where worker protections suck even after that)

    Getting a new probationary job means you can commit to going out for dinner to celebrate, not tying yourself down with a 20 year mortgage.

    • booly@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      13·
      5 days ago

      To clear up some of what you’re saying, it sounds like you’re applying private sector rules to government jobs.

      Government probationary jobs have fewer protections than non-probationary, but they still have way more protections than the private sector. Once they make it past probation, government employees can only be fired after 30 days notice and an opportunity to challenge the firing in writing, so it takes a while to lay the groundwork for firing an employee. And then a fired employee has appeal rights.

      While on probation, government employees don’t have the right to notice before firing, or an opportunity to challenge the firing before it happens, and their appeal rights are seriously limited. But the law is that they still can’t be fired except for poor performance.