Thousands of federal workers have been fired as part of the Trump Administration's larger effort for government efficiency and a smaller workforce. Oklahoma was home to more than 40,000 federal workers last year, and how many have lost their jobs is unclear.
The layoffs have been shrouded in confusion, and official information has been closely guarded. And the White House promises more firings are on the way. A Thursday memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management instructs federal agencies to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force” and submit a plan by Mar. 13.
In Oklahoma, at least 30 U.S. Department of Agriculture employees have already lost their jobs, threatening resources many of the state’s farmers rely on. Oklahoma City is home to the Federal Aviation Administration’s only training academy for air traffic controllers; it’s unclear to what extent the hundreds of nationwide FAA layoffs affected that facility.
There is mass confusion, including with the state’s leadership. A widespread, viral rumor states as many as 600 people could be laid off at Tinker Air Force Base.
“As far as we know at this point, they're just rumors,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said. “We haven't confirmed any of that. I think that's the message that our federal delegation has let us know here locally.”
As uncertainty hangs over federal employees and those who use their services, KOSU spoke with two Oklahomans who were laid off from federal jobs about their experiences.
Former IRS worker says layoff experience was ‘surreal’
Edmond resident Chris Dowling was halfway through his twelve-month training at the Internal Revenue Service, where he was tasked with auditing big corporate tax returns.
“I'm a small-town sheriff pulling over Lamborghinis, trying to get them to go the speed limit,” Dowling said. “And now there are dramatically less small-town sheriffs pulling over the Lamborghinis that are not going to go the speed limit.”
After years without many people or resources dedicated to auditing corporations or wealthy individuals, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act funded the IRS's hiring of more.
Dowling and his fellow trainees were among 6,000 employees the IRS laid off last week as part of DOGE’s broad government downsizing tactics. Dowling was ordered to report to work in person last week (he worked remotely 50% of the time). At that point, Dowling hadn’t received clear instructions from the Office of Personnel Management.
“We showed up and there were no, like, DOGE boys there,” he said. “It was just our managers, but they had no information on what to do. They were just told to show up, from what I understand. And they literally just checked our badges and laptops in and we left.”
Dowling lost access to his tax cases and federal software. It wasn’t until later that he received a letter via FedEx saying he’d been let go from his job.
Dowling said there’s room for increased efficiency in the IRS, but he doesn’t think these layoffs are helping.
“It's like someone comes in and hacks the pieces of the machine off without having an understanding of what those pieces do,” Dowling said. “The machine is going to weigh less, but it ain't gonna work. And I don't think we're building a better machine.”
This job provided the best salary and hours Dowling had ever had in this profession. Working remotely would allow Dowling to spend more time with his 11-month-old son.
He said he’s trying to figure out his next move quickly.
“It’s a ‘we'll cry later when we're done bleeding’ kind of thing,” Dowling said.
Dowling lives in Edmond now, but he’s from Alva. He said his family and their neighbors in northwest Oklahoma didn’t expect the DOGE frenzy to affect someone they knew personally.
“There have been some realizations there, just how close it hits to home,” Dowling said. “It's not some bureaucrat pulling a huge salary, doing nothing. It's the kid down the street who's trying to figure it out like everybody else.”
Oklahoma City resource conservation worker ‘broke down’ after layoff news
Carrie Chlebanowski took time off work for a long President’s Day weekend.
She’s had a busy time recently as a public affairs specialist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.
As a specialist, she provides Oklahomans with information about the conservation service. But for Chlebanoski, she said it became hard to focus because she did not know why her name was on a list of probationary USDA employees and what would be done with it.
Among other things, there’s the funding freeze for certain agriculture programs and questions on how it would impact farmers and ranchers.
“I just put myself in their shoes, and I had a constant knot in my stomach. I was nauseated and I couldn't sleep and just was trying to go to work,” Chlebanoski said. “And by Tuesday afternoon, I guess that would have been the 11th, I was like, ‘I'm gonna have to take a break.’”
On Thursday afternoon, she went grocery shopping and saw a Reddit notification saying probationary employees were being fired. Later, Chlebanowski picked up her government phone and saw the email saying she had been terminated effective immediately.
Chlebanowski said it was the letter others received saying it was based on her performance. She said dismissal cut her household income in half.
“I mean, I think I broke down,” Chlebanoski said.
Before Chlebanowski became a public affairs specialist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), she was a small-scale producer selling vegetables at farmer’s markets and restaurants.
As a farmer, she was involved in the USDA through agencies such as the Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency. Chlebanowski said she got the job with the service after a lengthy hiring process, starting her public affairs position in the fall of 2023 with a two-year probationary period.
Chlebanowski said she had a fully successful rating in her position and received a promotion in January.
“I would say that any federal agent or federal representative or civil servant would admit that there are definitely some inefficiencies that could be addressed, but when you do a blanket termination just based on tenure, and across the board, doesn't matter what the role is. That's problematic, that's not dealing with efficiency,” Chlebanowski said.
The most challenging part was not knowing what was happening. Chlebanowski said she loved her job because it allowed her to help producers and promote conservation. But she’s seen shocking disrespect online for herself and her colleagues across the state.
“The other thing that I’m recognizing, and this has been voiced by multiple people, I did not know how many people really did not care for or have such negative thoughts about federal workers,” Chlebanowski said.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
