Philadelphia IRS employees who were laid off in February have now returned to work
Probationary employees' jobs were in limbo for weeks. Meanwhile, many IRS workers across the agency are looking to leave.
For some Philadelphia-area employees at the IRS, the last few months have raised big questions about the fate of their work.
One of them, a King of Prussia employee, was laid off in February. He applied for unemployment and started interviewing for other jobs, he said. But before he got his first unemployment check, he was reinstated to his IRS role and placed on paid leave.
He was also offered an opportunity to resign from the federal government and continue getting paid for several months. But when he tried to take that offer, he was told he could not leave because his job was essential.
“Suddenly we now become mission critical, whereas in February we got let go based on performance,” said the King of Prussia worker, who spoke with The Inquirer on the condition of anonymity because he now hopes to remain at the IRS and does not want to jeopardize his employment.
Several hundred Philly-area probationary workers at the IRS were laid off earlier this year, as part of nationwide federal workforce cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration. They were reinstated in March after mass layoffs were challenged in federal court.
Philadelphia union leader Alex Jay Berman said he has been fielding questions from the local IRS workers who were on administrative leave for months, wanting to know simply: “What’s going on?”
“We’ve been saying all along, we want them to work. They want to work,” said Berman of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 71, which represents several thousand Philadelphia IRS workers. “They’re not there to collect a paycheck and not do anything. They’re there to work their government job.”
As of late May, the once-fired probationary employees were back at work. Meanwhile, throughout the agency, people are looking for a way out, Berman said.
The IRS and the Department of the Treasury did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
Applying for retirement and deferred resignation
Many of the IRS employees originally fired from the 30th and Market Streets location were contact representatives, Berman said. He estimated that 400 probationary employees had been laid off in February.
The “vast majority” of those laid-off workers have chosen to return following the reinstatement, Berman said. As of May 22, their IDs and laptops had been reissued, he said.
Still, uncertainty remains. The Trump administration ordered agencies to draw up “reorganization plans” by March 13. The stated aims include “increased productivity,” “better service for the American people,” and “eliminating positions that are not required.”
The IRS told Philly employees in April that the reduction-in-force process had begun, and workers were asked to submit resumes so their qualifications could be evaluated. But for now, mass layoffs across agencies appear to be at a standstill after a federal court in California blocked them.
Amid all this, some IRS employees are leaving on their own volition because “they don’t see a future,” Berman said. “They don’t see themselves working here with any guarantee of stable employment.”
Berman estimates that roughly 20% of the Philly union’s members have taken deferred resignation. They are required to work through June 30; they must then leave the agency and will continue to be paid through the end of September.
Berman is also seeing “a wave” of retirements, he said, and estimates that his location saw roughly a couple of hundred people take that route since January.
It’s a “brain drain” on the agency, Berman said. “This is going to be a reorganization unlike any other.”
To continue doing the work of the IRS, he said, “we’re going to have to do a lot of reorganization in a very short time, with very little preparation and data points to work with … and that cannot bode well for the taxpayers of this nation."
Continued uncertainty
The King of Prussia IRS employee is still unsure if he will be part of a future reduction in force. That uncertainty had motivated him to apply for the deferred resignation.
But he wants to stay in his IRS job, he said. It’s close to his house, with good work-life balance. Despite everything, he said, he was “very excited” to come back last month.
Now, he’s spending time re-familiarizing himself with the work after a three-month gap.