Dear Acting Administrator Woodel — Ranking Members of the Committee on Small Business (February 12, 2025)

Summary

Letter dated February 12, 2025 from Nydia M. Velázquez, Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee, and Derek T. Tran, Ranking Member of its Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations, to SBA Acting Administrator Everett Woodel, Jr. It says SBA probationary employees, at least 1,000 hired within the last year, were emailed on February 7, 2025 that their employment would end on February 21, 2025, were told on February 10 that the letters were sent in error, and received a second termination notice on February 11. The members say the firings harm services to small businesses, raise legal concerns under 5 CFR § 315.803, and object to an Executive Order on DOGE cuts to the federal workforce. They urge SBA to reconsider and ask for answers by February 21, 2025 on who was terminated, under what legal authority and how performance was reviewed.

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February 12, 2025

Acting Administrator Everett Woodel, Jr.
Small Business Administration
409 3rd Street, SW
Washington, DC 20416

Dear Acting Administrator Woodel:

We write to you as the Ranking Members of the Committee on Small Business and the
Committee’s Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations Subcommittee regarding a matter of grave
concern.

On January 28, 2025, federal employees were sent an email entitled “Fork in the Road” sent by
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).1 The emailed detailed an offer for “deferred
resignation.”2 Furthermore, the administration has requested agencies to deliver lists of all
employees who are still within their probationary periods with a reminder that “newly hired
members of the workforce are the easiest to fire.”3 According to a memo sent by OPM Acting
Director Charles Ezell on January 20, 2025, “[a]gencies should promptly determine whether those
employees should be retained at the agency.”4




1
  E-Mail from the WHITE HOUSE OFF. OF PERS. & MGMT. (Jan. 28, 2025), (on file with the H. COMM. ON SMALL
BUS.).
2
  Id.
3
  Drew Friedman, Trump administration asks agencies for lists of newly hired federal employees, FED. NEWS
NETWORK (Jan. 21, 2025), https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/01/trump-administration-asks-agencies-
for-lists-of-newly-hired-federal-employees.
4
  Charles Ezell, Re: Guidance on Probationary Periods, Administrative Leave and Details, WHITE HOUSE OFF. OF
PERS. & MGMT. (Jan. 20, 2025),
https://chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/Guidance%20on%20Probationary%20Periods%2C%20Administrative%20Leav
e%20and%20Details%201-20-2025%20FINAL.pdf.
The Committee has learned that Small Business Administration (SBA) probationary employees,
of which there were at least 1,000 hired within the last year,5 received an email on February 7,
2025, referencing Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations informing them that their employment
with the U.S. Small Business Administration would be terminated effective close of business on
February 21, 2025. Following these termination emails, a subsequent email was sent on February
10, 2025 explaining the unsigned termination letters were a draft and sent in error.6

Then, on February 11, 2025 SBA employees received a second notice of termination, of the
probationary period7 stating that “you are not fit for continued employment because your ability,
knowledge and skills do not fit the agency’s current needs, and/or your performance has not been
adequate to justify further employment with the agency.”8 Despite performance reviews to the
contrary and experience which fit the agency’s mission and programmatic needs, employees were
fired, not once, but twice,9 and the terminations were effective immediately. In one case, the
employee, “who had already gone through one performance review cycle and received nearly
flawless scores,” was told by a supervisor they were shocked and had not received notice of the
termination.10

Not only is this confusing and mean-spirited for the employees but these actions are harmful to
services provided to small businesses. Termination of SBA’s small workforce would have a
significant and adverse effect on the SBA and the services it currently provides to small businesses.

Furthermore, these actions raise serious legal concerns. Newly hired employees are typically
placed on a probationary period for the first year or two of service, depending on their position.
Under 5 CFR § 315.803 (a), probationary employees can be terminated “if an employee fails to
demonstrate fully his or her qualifications for continued employment.” If newly hired federal
employees are terminated, then the agency must notify the employees in writing with a reason for
their removal based on performance or conduct. Moreover, employees cannot be fired for partisan
political purposes.

We are also extremely concerned with the Executive Order entitled “Donald J. Trump Works to
Remake America’s Federal Workplace,” which requires agencies to work with the so-called
“Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team housed at the agency to cut the federal
workforce. The proposed large-scale and indiscriminate cuts to SBA employees, on top of the most
recent terminations of its newly hired employees, will hamper the agency’s ability to perform their
mission of aiding and counseling small businesses.

SBA’s programs have proven effective time and time again. The agency is structured to meet small
businesses where they are, and offers contracting, counseling, and access to capital opportunities

5
  Eric Katz, Some agencies begin purges of recent hires even as OPM directs federal offices to pump the brakes,
GovExec.com, Feb. 12, 2025 at https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/02/some-agencies-begin-purges-recent-
hires-even-opm-directs-federal-offices-pump-brakes/402959/.
6
  Id.
7
  Eli Stokols, DOGE order triggers firings at SBA of employees prematurely fired Friday, Politico, Feb. 11, 2025 at
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/11/sba-employees-fired-by-doge-twice-00203750.
8
  February 12, 2025 email from a terminated employee. On file with the Committee.
9
  Stokols, supra note 7.
10
   Katz, supra note 5.
to help entrepreneurs launch and grow their firms. Small businesses are the backbone of our
economy, creating jobs, stimulating innovation, and supporting the local tax base, and they rely on
SBA’s support. These unprecedented cuts to the agency will reverberate throughout the economy
and ultimately harm our nation’s 34 million small businesses. We urge you to reconsider your
decision to terminate or lay off SBA employees, many of whom work in district and regional
offices directly supporting communities all over the country.

We therefore request detailed information and answers to the following as soon as possible but no
later than February 21, 2025:

1) A comprehensive list of individuals, including their job titles and offices, who have received
   notices of termination or were placed on administrative leave.
   a) Break down the information by each program office at SBA and the geographic location.
   b) Break down the information by the number of employees in SBA’s district offices and
       provide a comprehensive list by state or region.
   c) Break down the information by the number of employees who were terminated due to
       President Trump’s directive to agencies to cease any activities related to fairness,
       infrastructure, and clean energy.

2) How many SBA employees fall into the “newly hired” category and were on probationary
   status or are temporary employees and how many of these employees received termination
   letters?

3) The legal authority under which the letters of termination to SBA employees were issued, as
   well as a copy of the termination or administrative leave letters, and all documents and
   communications, including drafts regarding the reason for each termination or administrative
   leave.

   a) Transmit all documents and communications regarding a reason given by a supervisor
      explaining why a probationary employee should stay in the government.

4) The law requires that each employee’s performance be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
   Please describe in detail how SBA conducted reviews, if at all.

   a) Transmit all documents and communications related to performance reviews of individuals
      sent a termination letter.

5) Were any individuals who received these letters terminated without cause? Please provide a
   detailed explanation and list of all employees who received letters and were terminated without
   cause.

6) How many notifications were sent to SBA employees indicating that the termination notices
   were a mistake, and how many employees were ultimately refired?

   a) Transmit documents, communications, and emails sent to individuals.
7) How many civil service employees at SBA have been reassigned to new positions where they
   could be hired and fired like political appointees?

8) Transmit all communications and documents between OPM and SBA regarding the Fork in the
   Road efforts and the Executive Order entitled “Donald J. Trump Works to Remake America’s
   Federal Workplace.”

9) How will hallowing out the SBA’s workforce enable the agency to achieve its mission of aiding
   small businesses?

Pursuant to Rule X of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Small Business has broad
authority to investigate “problems of all types of small business.” The Committee possesses
jurisdiction over “assistance to and protection of small businesses.”

Thank you for your attention to this matter. If you have any questions, please contact the
Committee’s minority staff at 202-225-4038.

Sincerely,




Derek T. Tran                                      Nydia M. Velázquez
Ranking Member                                     Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Oversight,                         House Small Business Committee
Investigations, and Regulations


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