139 employees of the Environmental Protection Agency have been put on administrative leave since July 3rd. But why?
On Monday, June 30th, a disinterest letter was made public, supported by over 170 employees of the EPA. About 100 employees signed in anonymously, out of fear of backlash and retaliation. Under the Trump Administration, many changes have been made to the EPA that the employees stated “undermine the EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment". These changes include reducing funding for environmental justice programs in America’s most vulnerable communities (People of Color, LGBTQ+, disabled, etc.), supporting the use of AI without acknowledging its large use of natural resources, the move to repeal rules that would limit air pollution in national parks and Native American reservations, and more.
The employees stated their devotion to the EPA mission for the American people, listed their five primary concerns, and called on the new Administrator Zeldin to listen and follow the oath of the EPA.
Not long after, during that same week, 139 employees were put on administrative leave. In an email obtained by the Associated Press, the notice letter stated that employees were being put on “temporary, non-duty, paid status” for the next two weeks, pending an “administrative investigation”.
More than the EPA: The NIH’s Similar Letter
EPA has not been the first federal agency to express its frustration towards the ongoing changes and cuts due to the Trump Administration. Since Trump has entered office, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and more have gone through extreme position terminations, research study cancellations and discontinuations, and more.
In Early June, employees of the NIH released their letter of dissent, The Bethesda Declaration, stating how the federal budget cuts to research will hurt Americans, and essentially, the globe, without efforts to further science and findings. However, unlike the EPA employees, the NIH members were not put on administrative leave for supporting the letter.
Fear and Free Speech
The move by the EPA to put their employees on administrative leave only furthers the letter’s fifth concern, which was “Promoting a culture of fear, forcing staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being.”. EPA employees stated how OMB director Russel Vought has said, "When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t enforce all of the rules against our energy industry [...] We want to put them in trauma.”
Vought’s previous statement and actions within the EPA thus far do not promote a safe working environment for those at the EPA.
If federal agencies’ employees cannot stand up for their mission without backlash, who can? Employees cannot even sign a public letter of dissent with their names for fear of retaliation, with their fears being proven right with the EPA’s recent leave notices.
The EPA’s move to scare employees who simply disagree and criticize the current Administration’s actions into submission only pushes forward the notion of America’s fall into authoritarianism. Every day, more people, from federal agency employees to immigrants entering the country, are barred from their jobs and futures for their public dissent against the Trump Administration's actions against the average American citizen.
There’s no telling what can happen next for those who disagree with not wanting budget cuts that protect the health and well-being of millions. One day, it can be administrative leave, the next, more extreme measures to protect and shield conservative actions made by the government.