VA grants researchers 90-day reprieve from layoffs, but their futures remain uncertain
The Department of Veterans Affairs is providing term-limited researchers a temporary extension of their appointments if they are set to expire in the next 90 days, according to an email sent to VA personnel on Friday.
In the memo, acting Chief Research and Development Officer Grant Huang said those with ‘Not to Exceed’ — or NTE — term limits, as well as those who are ‘Without Compensation’ — or WOC — employees would be eligible for a 90-day extension of their appointments if they are set to end in the following 90 days.
The New York Times first reported news of the email.
The temporary reprieve comes after VA laid off roughly 2,400 total probationary employees across the department since February — including some research staffers — and as it looks to trim additional personnel in adherence with the Trump administration’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency.
VA Secretary Doug Collins said the agency is planning to lay off as many as 83,000 employees across its operations later this year to return to 2019 staffing levels and has previously said that “mission-critical positions” would be exempt from the cuts. NTEs and WOCs — many of whom are researchers — were not exempted. VA similarly did not exempt the personnel from a governmentwide hiring freeze.
“This extension, which includes NTE and WOC employees, will ensure continuity of all research efforts while VA conducts a comprehensive assessment of ongoing research initiatives to evaluate their impact on Veteran health care,” a VA spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW in a statement.
A VA research coordinator, who is also a WOC employee, told Nextgov/FCW that the timeframes for NTEs are typically three years.
“In the history of this program, contracts are generally renewed,” they said. “But under the DOGE plan, all NTE employees who reach the end of their contract are to be fired. These employees are paid by the clinical trials they run. So are they part of the abuse, waste and fraud, or the probationary employees DOGE and the president claim to be targeting?”
WOC staffers similarly receive appointments for up to three years and are considered federal employees, although they are not paid by VA and often receive compensation from affiliated nonprofits.
While the temporary extension provides some relief for researchers, it raises additional questions about the future of in-progress clinical trials and projects. The email to VA staff did not say whether the extension would apply retroactively to researchers who had already been let go, nor did it provide any insights as to what would happen following the 90-day period.
Another VA researcher told Nextgov/FCW that their hope is the temporary extension will turn into a full exemption for research personnel from the department’s reduction in force efforts.
“No one feels good about the 90 days, but that maybe it’s rather a chance to try and figure out what the implications are of various options,” they said.
A top GOP lawmaker also voiced support for the department’s move to extend the layoff exemption for research personnel as it continues to evaluate its operations for cuts.
“VA has long-been a world leader in healthcare research to push the needle forward not only for veterans — but for all Americans,” Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., who chairs that House panel overseeing the VA, said in a statement to Nextgov/FCW. “I’m grateful to Secretary Collins for rightfully prioritizing protecting research initiatives at VA to ensure our veterans have access to the best care, treatments and services.”
As VA continues to evaluate cost-cutting measures — including announcing earlier this month that it would begin terminating 585 “non-mission-critical or duplicative contracts” — Collins and other department officials have strongly pushed back against the assertion that its workforce reduction efforts will harm veterans’ care.
The department spokesperson said “we have an obligation to make VA work better for the Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors we are charged with serving, and that is what we will do.”
But uncertainty about the future of the department’s research personnel remains.
The VA research coordinator who spoke with Nextgov/FCW said one of their colleagues was set to be terminated on Friday until they received news of the extension right before the close of business. They added, however, that “there are several more in our research coordinator group scheduled to be fired.”
