USDA recruited for important jobs after you have paid 15,000 for the departure: NPR

In Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Brooke Rollins confirmed that the US Agriculture Ministry is now trying to fill critical positions after he was ready to pay more than 15,000 employee salaries and services in the exchange.

“We are actively looking for and recruited to fill these positions that are an essential component for the efforts and the most important front lines,” Rollins told the members of the Senate appropriation committee on Tuesday.

USDA is one of the agencies that have invited the employees twice to terminate their work through the postponed cancellation program – once at the end of January, when the deal was presented almost the entire federal employee, and again for a short window in April. The Trump administration has greatly based on the postponed cancellation program to drastically reduce the federal workforce.

The need to fill positions so soon that people let people go has raised questions, including Senator Patty Murray from Washington, the Supreme Democrat in the Senate Committee.

“So let people go and look for new people who fill out the positions in which they had experience?” Asked Murray.

“We are currently conducting these discussions,” replied Rollins and found that 15,000 employees make up less than 15% of the USDA workforce and that the department loses 8,000 to 10,000 employees every year.

Nevertheless, Rollins invited some of those who had accepted the postponed cancellation offer.

“If you want to come back and you would be in a key position, we would like to have this conversation,” she told the legislators.

Previously, NPR reported that only one day after employees of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service from USDA (Aphis) had left their work through the postponed cancellation program. Human resources sent an e -mail to the remaining employees who offered them the opportunity to apply for 73 open positions, including the new free.

An employee who had concluded the resigned withdrawal agreement was angry to find out that her work was on this list. They did not want to step back from their job, but they felt forced to do this after repeated warnings of mass releases. The employee asked to stay anonymous for fear of reprisals because he had spoken to the media while he was still in paid administrative leave.

At the hearing on Tuesday, Rollins confirmed that some mistakes were made on the way, but insisted that people were not accepted in key positions in the second round of the resigned withdrawal program.

“We are very approaching.” We work on it every day to solve a lot of it, and I think we are making a lot of really good progress. “

On Wednesday, Rollins continued and denied that everyone in Aphis in April was allowed to accept a resignation or DRP.

“In the last round we did not accept DRPs from anyone in [Farm Service Agency] Offices or aphis offices or state veterinarians, “said Rollins in a budget negotiation from the House Appropriations Committee.

Your assertion contradicts another account of an aphis employee whose separation contract was seen by NPR. NPR agreed not to name this employee because he also fears that he is retaliating for the conversation with the media during the paid administrative vacation.

He described when he was seen stressed with laptops and cell phones who left the government last Wednesday. He added his stack.

Armando Rosario-Lebron, Vice President of the National Association of Agriculture Work accepted the postponed resignation offer in April.

USDA did not immediately answer the questions of NPR about the discrepancy between Rollins’ certificate and the accounts of these employees.