RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Federal workers at the Richmond VA Medical Center (VAMC), affected by abrupt DOGE cuts last month, say their terminations have been rescinded.
A federal judge ordered thousands of federal probationary employees to be reinstated.
However, many have not been invited back to work.
Instead, they are on paid administrative leave and stuck in a state of limbo.
Veterans Affairs Program Analyst Beatrice Robinson is one of them.
Robinson loves working with veterans, and she shows off her t-shirt with the words “Proud Federal Worker” printed on it.
“I wear it because I want people to know that I’m proud, you know, proud of my job and the work that we do,” Robinson said.
She loved the people she worked with, too.
“It was, like, one of the most kindest places that I’ve ever worked. I’m still devastated because I’m still processing it,” Robinson said through tears. “Because I just don’t think that it was right.”
She was among the dozens of probationary employees fired who showed up to work at the Richmond VAMC one morning in late February, only to realize they could not log in and no longer had jobs.
Her pay and health benefits also vanished in an instant.
Employees were told their terminations were due to poor work performance.
Robinson said that was a flat-out lie.
“In the last three weeks, I’ve applied to now over 20 different positions. I’ve only secured two interviews,” Robinson said.
Then, on March 17, a surprise memo rescinding her termination landed in Robinson’s email inbox.
“I do a good job. I come with excellent references. People say very great things about me and the work that I do. So having something negative in my background really hurt me, and it sent me into a state of depression,” Robinson said. “So I’m thankful that that’s been removed, but I still want my job back.”
She has been told to wait it out on paid administrative leave, even though some of her colleagues are returning to the office.
Robinson says she wants more transparency.
“Is this a case-by-case situation, like, what’s going on? People need to know what’s going on,” Robinson said. “I feel like we deserve it at this point because look at what we’ve gone through. You just flipped people’s lives upside down.”
Robinson says therapy is helping her deal with it all, but she still doesn’t have her health benefits reinstated and still has no income.
“Even the [idea] of going back is scary because if I were called back, I don’t know if I’m gonna end up in a reduction in force, like, terminated again,” she said.
Robinson added that she would still prefer to resume where she left off, returning to work at the Richmond VAMC and caring for the veterans she loves.
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