Amanda Forrester / news@whmi.com

U.S. Congressman Tom Barrett sent a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins asking for a review of “the agency’s workforce reduction process.”

In a press release, Barrett said the letter comes “amid concerns that otherwise qualified employees, including many veterans, are being dismissed as part of the department’s broader staffing cuts.”

Barrett, who serves as the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, was in the Army for 22 years.

The VA announced it was dismissing more than 2,400 employees on “probationary or non-mission critical positions” in February. The cuts included dozens of Michigan veterans working for agency care centers across the state.

In a statement issued Feb. 13, the VA announced it was firing more than 1,000 employees who were in a probationary period. The employees had either been with the agency less than a year in a competitive service appointment or had less than two years in an excepted service appointment. They said in the release that the cuts would save the department more than $98 billion per year, which they would direct back toward health care, benefits and services for beneficiaries.

The VA released another statement on Feb. 24, announcing the dismissal of more than 1,400 “non-mission critical” employees. These dismissals included those in a probationary period. These cuts would save more than $83 million per year, according to the press release, with the money slated to go into the same areas for VA beneficiaries.

Both announcements were made as part of the “government-wide Trump Administration effort to make agencies more efficient, effective and responsive to the American people,” their press release said.

Collins said the decision to fire employees was “extraordinarily difficult, but VA is focused on allocating its resources to help as many Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors as possible.”

Barrett said in the letter to Collins that he supported the efforts of the agency and Trump to make the VA better and more efficient for veterans. He added that “this must be done in a way that keeps our promise to all veterans at the VA, including those who receive care and those who help carry out its mission. While I am encouraged to hear mission critical positions, including Veterans Crisis Line responders, are exempt, I am concerned that probationary but otherwise qualified veterans are being unintentionally let go in the process.”

Barrett had three items he requested the VA consider when making decisions about releasing employees. He asked that the agency “guarantee only those who have truly underperformed and not met the expectations of their assignment” be dismissed. Those employees who were dismissed but didn’t underperform should be considered for reinstatement, or, if that wasn’t possible, that the employees who were dismissed be supported to make “the transition to new employment as smooth as possible.”

A link to the letter can be found at the first link. The second link has the VA press release from Feb. 13. The announcement from Feb. 24 can be found at: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-dismisses-more-than-1400-probationary-employees/