- Probationary staff at the Small Business Administration received a series of emails firing them, admitting a mistake, then terminating them once again. It comes amid sweeping changes for government staff under President Trump’s second administration.
Staff on probation at Donald Trump’s Small Business Administration (SBA) have had a confusing past week.
On Monday, the employees were told that termination notices that had previously been sent to them were a mistake, and they still had jobs.
The following day, yet another email landed in their inbox, saying their roles had indeed been axed.
“Probationary employees across the Small Business Administration may have received an unsigned notice of employment termination,” the department wrote to staff on Monday, per a memo seen by Bloomberg.
“Please be advised that this draft letter (see attached) was sent in error—and as such, it is not currently in effect. If you are in receipt of the initial notice, your employment has not been terminated as was erroneously indicated in the initial notice.”
A staffer who was subsequently let go by the SBA told Bloomberg that by Tuesday, they had received a further message confirming they were, in fact, re-fired.
The initial email—the wording of which was repeated in the second note—read: “During this probationary or trial period, it has been determined that your continued employment does not promote the efficiency of the service because you have failed to demonstrate fitness for continued federal employment.”
Sources told Politico the initial termination emails were sent out on Friday.
The SBA has been approached by Fortune for comment. The Office of Personnel Management declined to comment.
The move comes as part of a wider shift across all federal departments after the commander-in-chief pledged to make the government smaller and more efficient.
The Elon Musk–led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been sweeping through administrative offices, implementing spending checks and restrictions as well as axing millions of dollars’ worth of DEI initiatives.
Today, the Department of Education terminated 29 DEI training grants totaling $101mm.
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 11, 2025
One sought to train teachers to “help students understand / interrogate the complex histories involved in oppression, and help students recognize areas of privilege and power on an individual…
Part of Musk’s work from the offset has also been to reduce the headcount of federal agencies.
Even before President Trump was installed in the Oval Office, Musk made it clear he was planning to get rid of vast swathes of the federal workforce.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal alongside former DOGE co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk said: “Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home.”
It is unknown whether the SBA firings are prompted by a mandate from DOGE. The department did not respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
Federal fitness
With a reported 60,000 employees already signing on the dotted line to leave the federal workforce, there may be some gaps to plug in the longer term.
On this count, President Trump has ensured that workforce growth will be managed.
In an executive order signed yesterday, the White House said each department can hire “no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.”
On top of that, every agency head of department has been told to develop a data-driven hiring plan in consultation with DOGE “to ensure new career appointment hires are in highest-need areas.”
This will then be fed back to the wider efficiency department in a monthly agency update.
