Three-hundred personal service contractors were terminated by the Trump administration, a U.S. Agency for International Development official told Scripps News on Saturday.
The staff are contracted to help USAID implement programs, grants, and awards.PSC personnel have been receiving rolling notifications since Wednesday, according to another source familiar with the matter.
According to USAID, personal service contractors are individuals "who enter into a contract that generally establishes an employer-employee relationship with the Agency. The individual appears, in many respects, to be a Government employee; however, USAID’s PSCs are legally not U.S. Government employees for the purpose of any law administered by the Office of Personnel Management."
It comes as the administration has gutted the agency amid reforms to the federal workforce under the Trump administration, including efforts to terminate foreign service officers. The administration has faced multiple lawsuits challenging its efforts to cut staffing and pause foreign aid funding.
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Earlier Friday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ended his temporary block of the firings after unions representing USAID workers filed suit. Nichols said it was up to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and not the courts, to adjudicate the unions' complaints.
“While we are disappointed in today’s ruling, our commitment to our USAID members and the vital work they do on behalf of the American people remains unwavering. This decision is a setback in our fight to protect our members from efforts that threaten to dismantle USAID, but it does not change the importance of their mission—advancing U.S. interests and delivering life-saving assistance worldwide. We will continue to explore all possible avenues to defend the integrity of the Foreign Service and ensure our members can carry out their essential work," said Tom Yazdgerdi, president of the American Foreign Service Association.]
Earlier this month, the Trump administration put most USAID employees serving overseas on administrative leave as the Trump administration weighs cuts to the agency. USAID is at the forefront of global development and humanitarian assistance, working in over 100 countries to promote economic growth, health, education, and democratic governance.
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“To treat dedicated public servants in this 'yo-yo' fashion, particularly those stationed abroad, not knowing if we will again be cut off from email and systems access at midnight, is simply monstrous. It is psychological torment, which is pretty clearly the Trump regime’s goal. Those of us still working over the past fortnight have been doing our utmost to argue for the resumption of lifesaving programs, but the waiver process is fiction,” the official told Scripps News.
Prior to Nichols' ruling on Friday, Judge Amir Ali ordered USAID to continue providing grants and aid, putting a hold on the spending freeze. On Thursday, Ali warned that the Trump administration could be found in contempt for not complying with the temporary restraining order.
"The Trump regime is very flagrantly ignoring court orders: mass termination of personal services contractors, many of them the legally responsible representatives for program oversight, continues despite Judge Ali’s very clear prohibition of such action. Trump, Marocco, and Musk are eviscerating the agency, in violation of the constitution and the law; Congress is doing nothing to stop it and court orders appear to mean nothing," a USAID source told Scripps News.
An American an at non-governmental organization in East Africa, who Scripps News has been in contact with throughout the last few weeks, reacted to the news of the judge’s decision.
“It's obviously very upsetting," the source said. "USAID benefits so many people not just as beneficiaries as programs but also through employment opportunities and the capacity building of local NGOs that partner with USAID. It is very very difficult to see the upside of this decision by the Trump administration.”
This source has been working for several months at a nonprofit that provides AIDS/HIV services for adolescents. Since the Trump administration's pause on aide, the source has had to look for a new job.
