The federal government is one of the largest employers in Kansas City, and thousands of workers in the area have seen massive changes since President Donald Trump took office for the second time in January.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its plan to implement mass layoffs at federal agencies across the country, even with lawsuits underway that challenge the constitutionality of the president’s plans.
That includes at the Internal Revenue Service, which collects federal taxes, helps taxpayers with their returns, and distributes tax refunds. Nearly 6,000 people were employed by the IRS in Kansas City at the start of the year, although more than 1,000 of those were probationary employees at risk of immediate termination by the Trump administration.
Shannon Ellis works in customer service at the agency and serves as the president of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 66, which represents IRS workers in the area.
In an interview with KCUR, Ellis said the IRS has not told her union how many workers have left — either through firings or voluntary departures.
Earlier this year, agencies offered deferred resignations to federal employees — a choice between resigning their jobs on a specific date, or potentially being subject to layoffs in the future. Ellis likened the federal government’s threats of layoffs to a game show where no one wins.
“Here behind door number one, you can do this, or you can wait to see what happens behind door number two,” she said. “It's like a psychological war.”
Ellis said that the communication from management has been inconsistent and confusing, and that workers were depressed and afraid for their livelihoods and their careers -- echoing concerns KCUR has heard from other Kansas City federal union leaders.
Some workers, Ellis said, are even suicidal, and the union is trying to help them access mental health services.
Ellis spoke with KCUR’s podcast Kansas City Today as part of our ongoing conversations with federal employees in the region. Read excerpts from the interview below, which have been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
On how communication from management has changed
We went from the executive order removing our union from being able to represent employees, and as soon as that [order] came out, within minutes, there were managers that absolutely cut off communication.
Most of it is, [managers are] acting out of fear, too, and they have no control. They’re not even approving most of the stuff that's happening now. That in itself is a problem.
On changing expectations for IRS workers
Now, instead of just completing a timesheet at the end of each day, we are supposed to be sending to our managers a list of everything that we have done. It's almost like it's a test to see if you'll follow the orders.
Honestly, managers are probably not even looking at those anyway. [The lists] go to strange emails, so I don't even know if our frontline manager will see it.
Normally what happens with government is you have your frontline employee, your frontline manager. The frontline manager sends out information. Most of our guidance comes from the first, second or third level of management, or it will come from headquarters and it'll be sent out to all employees.
We're getting things from treasury@IRS.gov. And we've never had that before where it comes from these weird addresses. So this has been happening since day one of this administration. You know, it's a guess, do you respond? Do you not respond? We just wait.
On all IRS workers being called back into the office full time
We're sharing desks. We're having to find places to sit. When all of your work is electronic, it makes no sense to fight traffic, to fight parking, to fight for desks. Tempers are flaring. The atmosphere, the morale is down. Putting all 6,000 employees back on campus, it's a little much.
On the IRS violating its contract with unionized workers
This administration has violated the union contract up and down, every page, everywhere. Managers are violating it by following the directives that are given from the Treasury. Our telework agreements are contractually negotiated between the Internal Revenue Service and National Treasury Employees Union.
So just by them taking away our right to telework, that was the first step. These are orders that are coming from higher up than our local managers, but our local managers are following them. They know it's illegal and they're choosing to follow a directive from somebody that they know is making them do things that are illegal.
On how Kansas City workers feel about their jobs and their futures
If somebody really followed the money, there's no way they saved money. Because everybody so far that either took the buyouts or [were] terminated and then brought back has been receiving pay. And only half of those people that were called back have put [in] any work outright.
So all these months they're being paid, and the taxpayers are not getting not one thing of production for that money. We've got people in the building right now working seven days a week. People are being forced to work overtime because we don't have enough people to do the work, yet we're paying people to be on administrative leave, for what reason?
We're not sure about any future here. We had people that have taken early retirements. We have people like me who have to make the decision: if I wait and don’t take this early retirement, will my retirement still be there? Everybody's looking for ways to get out now.
On how layoffs are affecting Americans and the services they use
Right now, you'll have extremely long waits on the phones. Delays in processing returns will be ridiculous. Your refunds will be delayed for sure.
Employees at the IRS are considered evil in some ways, because we collect the revenue. But the reality is the revenue goes to fund agencies such as Veterans Affairs, the SNAP programs, food stamps, the school lunches, early childhood development programs.
Americans don't realize that they use these programs, but they'll be gone or they’ll be delayed. Funds won't be there because the funding won't be collected, because we don't have enough people to do the job.
If you’re a current or former federal employee and you want to talk to KCUR about your work, email us at nomin@kcur.org.
