ORLANDO, Fla. – Rita Santiago and Debora Talutto are two of the hundreds of IRS workers being let go at local offices in Orlando, Daytona, Melbourne, Lakeland, and other locations in Central Florida.
“I have 27 years of experience in accounting, finance, and taxes—I thought this was my big break,” Santiago said.
The National Treasury Employees Union and former IRS employees say around 100 or 1/3 of employees at the Orlando offices received their termination letter on Wednesday or Thursday.
“I’ve been working with international tax and transfer pricing for the last 20 years,” said Talutto. “I used to teach at the University of Florida and Texas A&M online transfer pricing program, so if they’re talking about merit and experience, I think I shouldn’t be on the list. But the reality is that I’m a probationary employee, and that’s why I’m being fired.”
The White House says thousands of IRS employees across the country are losing their jobs.
“I think our objective is to make sure that the employees we pay are being productive. More than 100,000 people are working to collect taxes, and not all of them are fully occupied,” White House Advisor Kevin Hassett stated.
George Carpenter, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, says they have five lawsuits in federal courts to combat the recent firings.
“It’s gonna be a significant impact on federal workers, who are everyday Americans, and it’s gonna have a significant impact on the services that Americans count on and pay taxes for,” said Carpenter.
Members with the NTEU say that this will lead to longer wait times for Social Security, veteran affairs, appointments, tax refunds, and much more.
Employees like Santiago were in their first year with the IRS. Now, she’ll have to figure out her next steps after her dream job was taken away.
“What am I gonna do now in a country where I’ve only been nine months? I left everything in Puerto Rico just to be here with my son, and it’s heartbreaking,” Santiago said.