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Fired employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) take personal belongings with them as they leave HHS Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building in D.C. on April 01, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)(Getty Images/Kevin Dietsch)

Scores of federal workers lined up outside their offices on April Fool’s Day to see if their badges worked. If it didn’t, it wasn’t a joke, it meant their job had been cut as part of the latest reduction in force (RIF) efforts being carried out by the Trump Administration.

One worker who spoke to WTOP recalled the experience of showing up Tuesday morning to a long line of colleagues at a D.C.-area Department of Health and Human Services building. One by one, workers would go through a security check and put their badge up to the door.

If the light turned green, they still had their job. If it turned red, they didn’t.

“It felt like ‘Squid Games,’” the worker said.

For this federal employee who worked in a division that addressed mental health and substance use, a two-hour wait in line to swipe their badge resulted in the latter – they saw a red light.

“It was humiliating and then you had to walk all the way back through security and have someone escort you through the building,” the worker said.

The worker was among several willing to sit down with WTOP after they received the news. Their time with the federal government ranged from just over a year to 14 years on the job. They did not want their names used since they are still on administrative leave with the agency until June 2.

Another HHS employee said that they arrived just after 5 a.m. with a colleague, and they “had a feeling” their job was targeted when the person’s badge didn’t work at the garage.

“They are torturing federal workers right now,” another employee told WTOP.

On X, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the RIF a “difficult moment,” but said the decision was made because “what we’ve been doing isn’t working.”

“Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year. In the past four years alone, the agency’s budget has grown by 38% — yet outcomes continue to decline,” Kennedy said in the post.

“This overhaul is about realigning HHS with its core mission: to stop the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy continued.

One worker said while they want agencies to be more efficient and accountable, the strategy being used does not make sense. They said many units in the agency consist of “small teams” that are “efficient,” especially in what they are able to accomplish.

“I have not seen any data and evidence to show how these cuts would bring us to efficiency,” they said.

The employees who spoke to WTOP all worked in areas that addressed mental health and substance use concerns in the community, including underserved communities, and they said their work has saved lives.

One worker, in response to comments that better jobs will come along, said: “It means so much more than just the job itself … It’s like wiping out an entire collection of history of knowledge and being like, it doesn’t matter … It doesn’t matter, and these groups of people don’t matter.”

Hundreds of employees wait in line wrapped around the outside of the Health and Human Services headquarters building, Tuesday morning, April 1, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Amanda Seitz)

‘Overdose deaths are going to rise’

With the HHS cuts, the workers said no community is “untouched” by behavioral health concerns, including mental health issues and substance use. The cuts will end research and federal support for programs that address those concerns, they said.

“There are so many direct programs and supports in our country that are predominantly helping rural communities, low-income communities, communities in the southeastern region of the United States,” one worker said.

Another employee said overcoming an opioid addiction themselves led to their desire to one day work for HHS and help others facing similar battles. Overcome with tears, they said seeing programs, such as the Drug Abuse Warning Network, end has them very worried.

“Something we’re going to see almost immediately is that overdose deaths are going to rise, and most marginalized communities are going to be impacted most and my heart breaks,” one said.

Another said they also fear a spike in suicides could be seen with the loss of many of the agency’s programs and research.

“I am really sad to think what this world is going to be like for my kid, our kids,” another said.

‘People go into public health because they want to help people’

For these HHS employees, they believe support for the cuts are a result of Americans not truly understanding what most federal workers do.

“We touch everything, there isn’t a single person on this planet who doesn’t get a service from the government,” one employee said.

“People go into public health because they want to help people, that’s why we go into public health,” another stated.

The employees said they all took an oath when taking the job, a job they were proud of having.

“There is no higher calling [than] to work for the federal government, to serve the American people,” one worker said. They continued, “We’re not here to make money, if we wanted to make money we would have been on the contracting side of things.”

The workers said they chose the federal government for careers not just for the stability it provided but also because they felt they could do more meaningful work than they could have in the private sector.

“It’s a very different mindset when you have stocks and other things that come into play that are not about the people and the service,” one said.

All who spoke said the treatment of federal workers in recent months has been difficult to endure, one calling it “dehumanizing.”

For some, personal networks have been affected as well, with family expressing support for the administration’s actions even if it cost their loved ones their jobs.

“People don’t understand what the job means to me,” one worker said.

They said the past months of uncertainty led to many sleepless nights and stress both at and outside of work. There is also concern about how they’ll support their family and pay their bills.

As they figure out what’s next for them, some said they would be willing to return to the government for work in the future while others said they won’t.

“It was an honor and a privilege to serve this country, and I think it’s heartbreaking that people dismiss us so readily,” one worker stated.

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