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Former USAID Foreign Service Officer's RIF notice arrived in the middle of cancer treatment. Her testimonial is worth reading.
▲ 205 r/USAIDForeignService+4 crossposts

Former USAID Foreign Service Officer's RIF notice arrived in the middle of cancer treatment. Her testimonial is worth reading.

A 17-year USAID Foreign Service Officer named Christina just published a personal account of her separation from the agency. She served in Jamaica, two tours in Afghanistan, Colombia, Kosovo, and Mali, doing democracy, human rights, and governance work: election security, justice sector reform, reintegration programs for former combatants, basic service delivery.

Her RIF notice came while she was in the middle of chemotherapy for skin cancer. She couldn't afford the treatment without insurance, so when she ran out of the cream she had, she stopped.

The piece isn't a legal filing or a policy argument. It's a first-person account of what she calls moral injury: losing not just income, but identity, security, and a sense of purpose that took decades to build. She also writes about being closeted for most of her career overseas, and what it cost her to keep that part of herself hidden while representing the U.S. abroad.

Full piece here: https://usaidemployeesupportfund.substack.com/p/i-dont-want-to-carry-it-alone-anymore

u/Timely_Explorer_6144 — 1 day ago
▲ 1 r/FreeSpeech

AFSA put out a short video explaining why a recent op-ed matters

AFSA put out a short video explaining why a recent op-ed matters — it's written by a former USAID Administrator and an attorney who's represented federal employees for decades, and it walks through why the way USAID staff were let go broke the civil service protections that are supposed to apply regardless of party.

Video: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1051601154504241

reddit.com
u/Timely_Explorer_6144 — 26 days ago
🔥 Hot ▲ 5.1k r/TheMinistryofProof+5 crossposts

The dismantling of USAID and the firing of its staff was illegal

A new op-ed in The Hill lays out something worth reading if you've been following the USAID story.

It's co-authored by J. Brian Atwood (USAID Administrator under Clinton, 1993-1999) and an attorney who's represented federal employees for over three decades. Their argument: USAID's career staff were fired without the misconduct or performance findings the Civil Service Reform Act requires, and the administration is now calling it a "reorganization" to get around due process protections.

The interesting part is that government lawyers have reportedly conceded in court that no one was fired for misconduct or poor performance. The authors argue that concession alone undercuts the legal basis for the firings.

There's also reporting cited in the piece that the White House pressured the Merit Systems Protection Board behind closed doors to adopt a broad theory of presidential removal power, which the board then adopted in March. That ruling is now under review by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Worth a read regardless of where you land politically on USAID itself. The legal question here (can career civil servants be removed without due process) applies well beyond one agency.

Op-ed: https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5981243-doge-usaid-lawsuit-civil-servants/

More on the case and the organization backing the legal defense: https://www.usaidemployeefund.org

thehill.com
u/BigfootsMailman — 27 days ago
▲ 443 r/USAIDForeignService+4 crossposts

First-person account: PTSD diagnosis after USAID's dismantling, confirmed by bloodwork

We're sharing testimonials from former USAID employees describing what actually happened to them during and after the agency's dismantling. This one covers a year-long path to a PTSD diagnosis, ultimately confirmed by elevated cortisol levels in a blood panel, not just screening tools.

Full piece here: https://usaidemployeesupportfund.substack.com/p/i-took-an-oath-to-this-country-it

Sharing in case this resonates with anyone else who went through something similar and hasn't had language for it yet.

usaidemployeesupportfund.substack.com
u/Timely_Explorer_6144 — 1 month ago
▲ 84 r/USAIDForeignService+2 crossposts

Do the words "for cause" still mean anything? Hundreds of career employees are asking a federal appeals court.

Many here followed what happened to USAID's career workforce last year. A quick update for anyone who assumed the story ended with the separations: it did not.

Hundreds of career employees are now before a federal appeals court. The question at the center of it is one that matters to every fed in this sub: do the due-process protections written into law still mean what they say when an agency decides not to follow them?

The USAID Employee Support Fund was set up to support that fight. It does three things: finances the legal defense of separated career employees, covers litigation costs, and preserves the public record of what happened. It is organized around merit-system principles, not politics. Career civil servants under every administration have relied on the same protections, and those protections historically set the floor for fair treatment in the private sector too.

Whatever agency you work for, the outcome of these cases will touch your job protections. If the floor gives way for one career workforce, it gives way for all of them.

If you want to contribute or just read more: https://www.usaidemployeefund.org/get-involved

Happy to answer questions in the comments about what the Fund does and does not do.

u/Timely_Explorer_6144 — 1 month ago