VA plans to lay off as many as 83,000 employees this year [View all]
Source: GovExec.com
The Veterans Affairs Department is planning to lay off tens of thousands of employees throughout its organization later this year, according to an internal memorandum distributed to top staff on Tuesday.
VA will soon kick off a departmentwide review of its mission, organization and structure, according to the memo, which was obtained by Government Executive. It will work in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency to create a workforce optimization plan, VA Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek said in the document. Syrek said VA will “move aggressively” to implement its plans that reduce management and bureaucracy, cut the department’s footprint and “increase workforce efficiency.”
The forthcoming reductions in force, Syrek said, will “resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.” The forthcoming cuts will be sweeping and spare no part of the department, Syrek said. He set an initial target of VA’s staffing level in fiscal 2019, or 399,000 workers. VA currently employs 482,000 staff—and 459,000 full-time workers—meaning VA plans to slash its workforce by upwards of 83,000 individuals.
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said VA’s plan was not just dangerous but an “outright betrayal of veterans.” He noted that VA had to grow its workforce to meet new demands.
“Gutting VA’s staffing to pre-PACT Act levels will cripple the very system that millions of veterans rely on, denying them access to lifesaving health care, claims processing, and education benefits they’ve earned,” Takano said.
Read more: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/03/va-plans-lay-many-83000-employees-year/403477/?oref=ge-home-top-story
They’re going to devastate Veterans care.
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