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I am currently working for the federal government. The agency that I work for is going to start firing people in mass. I think I am on the risk list.

- is there anything I should keep in mind or do or ask or whatever to preserve my rights?
- is there a way that I can resign before getting let go? if so, what is the procedure for this? because I don't think they are telling people in advance so I might be blindsided. also, is this the best thing to do in order to look good for prospective jobs?
- anything else I should know in order to keep my chances high for getting another job?

basically I've never been in this situation so for people that know about how this works, especially within the federal government, any insight would be appreciated on how to handle this

Anonymous User wrote:I am currently working for the federal government. The agency that I work for is going to start firing people in mass. I think I am on the risk list.

- is there anything I should keep in mind or do or ask or whatever to preserve my rights?
- is there a way that I can resign before getting let go? if so, what is the procedure for this? because I don't think they are telling people in advance so I might be blindsided. also, is this the best thing to do in order to look good for prospective jobs?
- anything else I should know in order to keep my chances high for getting another job?

basically I've never been in this situation so for people that know about how this works, especially within the federal government, any insight would be appreciated on how to handle this

I can't help answer those questions, but consider going to the newspapers/legal publications with this information. They ought to know. I am willing to guess this is the EPA.

Being fired gets you unemployment benefits so do that. Resigning isn't better when it's a massive layoff. Future employers who aren't idiots will know it's not about you.

OP here

So the weird thing is ... this mass layoff isn't stated as due to budget constraints. It is stated as due to not meeting performance standards.

But, normally if a couple people here or there are having trouble meeting standards then its a problem with those people. But here, from my knowledge, at least 25 percent of the employees aren't "meeting standards". And they plan on firing all of them. So it honestly seems to be a problem with their standards.

Anyway the point is that if I go into a new job interview or something, I don't think I can say that it is due to the budget, so it might look like it's about me. That's the reason I was thinking of doing the resigning thing.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here

So the weird thing is ... this mass layoff isn't stated as due to budget constraints. It is stated as due to not meeting performance standards.

But, normally if a couple people here or there are having trouble meeting standards then its a problem with those people. But here, from my knowledge, at least 25 percent of the employees aren't "meeting standards". And they plan on firing all of them. So it honestly seems to be a problem with their standards.

Anyway the point is that if I go into a new job interview or something, I don't think I can say that it is due to the budget, so it might look like it's about me. That's the reason I was thinking of doing the resigning thing.

What is AFGE saying? Has the union rep said anything? Normally if you are being fired for performance from the government there is a multi-step process.

If this is political, which is what it sounds like, everyone will understand what's happening. No one is going to think someone let go from, say, the EPA right now is actually doing a bad job. (Depends on the agency, of course, but that kind of a mass layoff won't go unnoticed and I doubt it would reflect on you personally.)

Is this the EPA? If so, that is actually fucking scary as shit.

This is what you get for perpetuating the myth of climate change

A. Nony Mouse wrote:If this is political, which is what it sounds like, everyone will understand what's happening. No one is going to think someone let go from, say, the EPA right now is actually doing a bad job. (Depends on the agency, of course, but that kind of a mass layoff won't go unnoticed and I doubt it would reflect on you personally.)

Agreed. OP: If you're worried about what you'd have to put down under "reason for leaving" on a job application, you could farily write "change in administration" or something similar. (I know we're eight months into the Trump administration, but I think that reason would work for anyone who departed in 2017.)

Anonymous User wrote:OP here

So the weird thing is ... this mass layoff isn't stated as due to budget constraints. It is stated as due to not meeting performance standards.

But, normally if a couple people here or there are having trouble meeting standards then its a problem with those people. But here, from my knowledge, at least 25 percent of the employees aren't "meeting standards". And they plan on firing all of them. So it honestly seems to be a problem with their standards.

Anyway the point is that if I go into a new job interview or something, I don't think I can say that it is due to the budget, so it might look like it's about me. That's the reason I was thinking of doing the resigning thing.

Is there the chance that if you don't meet performance standards, before they fire you, they may ask you to "resign"?