The Core Stage for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is moved from the Pegasus barge to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 23, 2024. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — NASA managers are seeking a “blanket waiver” to save probationary employees from layoffs, according to internal meeting notes seen by Bloomberg, as other federal agencies are forced to fire their newest hires in an effort to reduce employee headcount.
The expectation comes after NASA employees had braced for news of job cuts on Tuesday, six people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. However, no probationary employees have yet been fired, according to the people, and the meeting notes said that “things have stood down for now.”
Agency officials had compiled a list of probationary employees — individuals who have been newly hired or promoted, typically within the last year.
The original list stood at 1,300, including about 300 students, according to the notes, but NASA managers have since whittled it down, removing scientists, engineers and technical workers to reach a remaining list of 200.
The notes said that management may get a “blanket waiver for NASA on probationary employees” but did not specify why.
The agency employs nearly 18,000 civil servants, according to a NASA website.
NASA officials are working on finalizing a list of employees who accepted the White House’s deferred resignation offer, estimating it to be roughly 740 people, according to the meeting notes.
A NASA spokesperson confirmed that the agency is working to comply with the new directives coming from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), while figuring out possible exemptions.
“The agency is in the process of validating hundreds of employees who responded to the deferred resignation offer before the deadline,” Cheryl Warner, a NASA spokesperson, said in a statement.
“Some probationary employees have taken the deferred resignation offer and those individuals have been, or will be, on administrative leave by the end of this week,” she said. “NASA is working with OPM on exemptions for those in the probationary period in mission critical functions.”
A NASA spokesperson would not comment on the specific numbers cited in the meeting notes.
Agencies across the federal government are grappling with a wave of headcount reductions since President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month, mostly targeting probationary employees.
Thousands of federal employees have lost their jobs in the past few weeks, including those at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Veteran Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency, as part of what the Trump administration calls an effort to shrink the size and spending of the U.S. government.
The Department of Government Efficiency is led by Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX receives billions of dollars in NASA contracts.
Trump said on Tuesday that he will not let Musk partake in government work related to space, given the potential conflicts of interest.
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