The IRS is preparing to terminate thousands of its probationary employees, following a governmentwide trend that started last week.

An IRS manager told Federal News Network that the agency plans to fire about 6,000 employees for the next two days.

“All managers are to be hands on deck in office to be ready for the offboarding process,” the IRS manager said.

According to another IRS official, the employees slated for termination were “not deemed as not critical” to the ongoing tax filing season.

According to the latest data from the Office of Personnel Management, the IRS had more than 15,000 employees with less than a year on the job, as of May 2024. In some cases, however, IRS employees may have probationary periods that exceed one year.

The leaders of the IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Division (SB/SE) said in an email Wednesday they expect about 3,500 SB/SE probationary employees “will be terminated by the end of this week.”

SB/SE Commissioner Lisa Colbert and Deputy Commissioner Maha Williams called on IRS leaders to report to the office for the remainder of the week.

“Even if you don’t have impacted probationary employees, you can help the employees in the safest, most dignified way possible. Our new hires will understandably be experiencing a range of emotions. We must help them as best we can and meet those employees where they are,” they wrote.

The leadership of the IRS Large Business and International (LB&I) Division, in another email, told managers that, “as we prepare to notify probationary employees of their status, we are directing all managers to report to the office tomorrow and Friday to support offboarding activities.”

“You may need to assist employees who are not on your team. We understand that coming in on short notice may be an inconvenience. If you are unable to come in person, please elevate to your manager immediately so we can ensure the appropriate level of in office manager presence,” LB&I Commissioner Holly Paz and Deputy Commissioner Jennifer Best wrote in an email sent Wednesday.

The email includes several attachments, labeled “Separation Checklist,” “Separating Employee Clearance Checklist” and “ProbationaryMgrTalkingPoints.”

Federal News Network has reached out to the IRS for comment.

An IRS official said managers are meeting with trainees and on-the-job instructors.

Shannon Ellis, president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 66 in Kansas City told members in a video message Tuesday that the IRS is planning to fire probationary employees.

“We don’t know what time. We don’t know how it’s going to happen. We don’t even know if it includes all of our probationary employees,” she said.

Ellis said that at the IRS, probationary periods are either one year or two years from an employee’s start date.

“We don’t know for sure if it is going to impact other than probationary employees. Some agencies have been affected by that,” she said.

Ellis said the IRS building in Kansas City has beefed up security so that once employees have received their termination notice, they will be escorted out of the building.

“They’ll collect your badge and they’ll walk you out. Employees at other agencies have only been given one hour to get the information they need off the system and pack up their belongings and leave the building,” Ellis said. “This is unacceptable and I am furious that this is happening on our campus. We are in the middle of tax season, so yes, we know that the public will be impacted.”

Ellis strongly encouraged bargaining unit members to print out their SF-50 personnel records, records of their enter-on-duty (EOD) — i.e. the first day they started their position — at least three recent pay stubs and “as many” annual appraisals as they can pull.

“Print whatever you have to show,” she said. “If you’re already out of the building when you get this message, come back into the building and pull the information, because you only have one hour, if that, from the time you receive the email. I don’t mean to scare anybody, but we just don’t know who is impacted.”

Ellis is also encouraging bargaining unit members to provide NTEU with personal phone numbers and email addresses to follow up with employees if they are suddenly fired.

“We need your personal contact information because once this email is received, they will remove you from the system. So do not hesitate. Go pull this information today.”

The IRS, however, closed its Kansas City facility on Wednesday because of a snowstorm.

“Please do not go into the building with the weather condition as it is. It is not safe to be on the roads, and it’s just not advised to go into the building,” Ellis said in a follow-up video message on Tuesday.

Ellis told Federal News Network in an email on Wednesday that NTEU Chapter 66 was informed “through undisclosed sources that termination notices were expected to be issued to employees this week.”

However, Ellis said the union on Wednesday hadn’t received official notifications regarding terminations.

“We remain hopeful that, given the demands of tax season, these unnecessary cuts will not impact our already understaffed agency. In preparation for the possibility, NTEU has provided guidance to employees on what documents they should print and retain should they receive such a notice,” Ellis said.

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