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Imagine getting fired, then unfired and fired again. That's what some people caught up with the Trump administration's purge of federal workers have gone through, and now some are speaking out. NPR's Andrea Hsu brings us one of their stories.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: Mike Macans and his family live far from Washington, D.C.
MIKE MACANS: We live in Anchorage, Alaska. I came up here in 2015 when I was stationed up here in the Army at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
HSU: After five years in the Army, he worked in security on Alaska's North Slope and then took a job in emergency management with the state. It was work that made him feel like he could really make a difference.
M MACANS: You know, Alaska has every possible, like, disaster threat you could think of, from volcanoes to hurricane to tsunami, earthquake, fire, flood.
HSU: Through his work for the state, he got to know the folks at FEMA and the Small Business Administration, the federal agency that helps businesses and homeowners recover from disasters. Six months ago, an opportunity opened up to join the SBA as recovery coordinator for Alaska and much of the Pacific Northwest. It was a brand-new position to provide ongoing help once the initial shock of a disaster is over.
M MACANS: All right, we still have these people in shelters, or we still have this kind of significant problem in the community that there's no apparent resource to help them.
HSU: Macans was the guy people could call to cut through the bureaucracy.
M MACANS: The phone-a-friend for the region.
HSU: His deep knowledge of Alaska's wild weather and terrain and its diverse population made him a good fit for the job. Lara Macans, Mike's wife, says it was like he had finally arrived.
LARA MACANS: You know, we had talked, like, this is going to be your career. Like, you're going to retire from this job, and that was really exciting.
HSU: And then, two weeks ago came the email. The first one.
M MACANS: February 7, late afternoon, Alaska time.
HSU: The subject line, termination of probationary period. The letter attached said, you have failed to demonstrate fitness for continued federal employment. It gave him a termination date of February 21. When Lara came home that afternoon, she could tell something was wrong.
L MACANS: And that's when he, like, dropped the bomb. Like, I got fired, and I just, like, couldn't even believe it.
HSU: It was a terrible weekend. Macans was angry. He couldn't sleep.
M MACANS: You turn off the lights and try to go to sleep, and you're just left alone with your thoughts.
HSU: He tried to keep it together for their kids, a 3-year-old and an infant. Then Monday came another surprise. A colleague told him something was up. Someone had burst into a meeting to say Friday's termination letters may have been a mistake.
M MACANS: Sure enough, an hour or two later, we got that email that said it was sent in error, and as such, it is not currently in effect. Well, what does that mean?
HSU: He wasn't too reassured. And good thing, because the next day, he got not one, but two emails telling him, actually, you are fired, effective close of business that day.
M MACANS: And to make it worse, there's absolutely no follow-up. That is literally the last official correspondence regarding my employment status that I received from the SBA.
HSU: The agency hasn't sent the documents he needs to apply for unemployment. They haven't told him anything about his health insurance.
M MACANS: The only place I've gotten any help is online on fricking Reddit.
HSU: Which is where so many federal workers have turned for answers since the chaos of this administration began.
Now, Lara is a cancer survivor. She needs costly medications. The kids need routine care.
L MACANS: Just the disregard for, you know, the impact that this has on not only the employee, but his whole family is astounding.
HSU: Ironically, Mike Macans's performance evaluation came in the week he got fired. It was outstanding. Now he feels betrayed by a government he's chosen to serve twice all to make the country better.
M MACANS: There's no one that works in the federal government that will tell you that there doesn't need to be changes to the way the bureaucracy works, to maybe the way we spend money. I think those are very fair criticisms of the government. I am trying to be part of the solution.
HSU: For now, Macans has appealed his termination.
M MACANS: I want to - I really want to go back to my job. I don't think I am going to be able to go back to my job.
HSU: Regardless what happens, his trust in the government is shattered.
Andrea Hsu, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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