Minnesota government workers live with uncertainty as federal government slashes aid to states

In the two weeks since she got a layoff notice from the Minnesota Department of Health, Amy Saupe has been contingency planning with her family while frantically trying to wrap up projects connected to a 14-year career in the prevention of foodborne illnesses.

On Monday, her initial layoff will be rescinded after the department said it made errors in the first round of notices. But there’s still uncertainty: The same day she could get a new layoff notice — or find out her job is now secure.

“It’s been such a long two weeks for us at the Health Department,” said Saupe in her role as a member leader of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE). “My colleagues and I just continued on with our public health work, but all this uncertainty is making it difficult for people to make plans with our families.”

Her situation highlights the widespread unease settling over Minnesota’s sprawling government workforce, which has seen its first layoffs from sudden cuts to state funding from the Trump administration.

The state Department of Health is responding to $220 million in public health grants recently slashed by the federal government. Gov. Tim Walz has said all state agencies should be planning as if their federal funding could be cut at any moment.

Minnesota receives more than a third of its two-year budget from federal grants and loans, or more than $22 billion in the current budget year.

So far, more than $282 million in federal grants have been canceled, and another $73 million is “at risk,” according to a dashboard updated each weekday by Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB), the state’s chief budgeting agency.

Minnesota employs about 40,000 government workers across more than two dozen state agencies. They range from epidemiologists to security guards, IT staffers and conservation officers working across the state. Some agencies rely on federal funding more than others to support their workforce.

The Department of Human Services is supposed to get more than $16 billion in federal funding this year — much of that for Medicaid — but federal dollars are only directly connected to a small fraction of the department’s 7,000 employees. It’s likely services would have to be cut, not staff, if the department were dealt a major blow to its federal aid.

Employees at the Department of Health knew they were especially vulnerable to layoffs because the agency relies heavily on federal funding to pay for programs and staff. Of the nearly 1,000 federal grants that could come into the state this year, more than 200 were designated for the Health Department, according to a list provided by MMB.

Minnesota has been more aggressive than many other states in using layoffs to respond to federal cuts. A judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s order to slash $11 billion in public health grants nationwide, but the department doesn’t know if the funding will be available long-term.

In addition to sending layoff notices to 170 people in the initial round, another 130 junior workers were alerted they were at risk of losing their jobs to colleagues with seniority.

Last week, the department sent a letter to employees saying the abrupt termination of funds meant “there was a risk for mistakes which we would need to correct after the initial notices were sent.” New notices will go out Monday, and those who are still laid off will be able to stay on until May 13, according to the letter.

“To have to issue layoff notices to so many wonderfully dedicated and talented public health professionals who we know and have supported, is devastating,” Mel Gresczyk, an assistant commissioner in the department, wrote in the letter.

In Saupe’s long career in foodborne illness prevention, she’s created safety materials used in child care facilities around the state and has developed expertise working with national partners.

Last year, in the midst of a listeria outbreak, she managed to track down the cheese that sickened a pregnant Minnesota woman, who lost her baby. The Food and Drug Administration then put out an import alert on the product so no one else got sick.

“Doing all that work and having it abruptly ripped away from you, I’m not even sure I can describe it,” said Saupe.

“The big thing about public health is: When it happens correctly, when all of us are here doing our jobs, it’s really invisible because you don’t notice when you don’t get sick.”

Saupe has been scrambling to wrap up her work while also trying to figure out where she will get health insurance and if her family will have enough money in their emergency fund to cover if “I’m actually fully laid off,” she said.

Civil servants are flooding the job markets as tens of thousands of federal workers have also left or been fired by the Trump administration in an effort to slash federal spending. That could increase competition for the types of jobs state workers have done.

Epidemiologist Lydia Fess said no one gets into public health for themselves, but now she has to plan in the event she’s out of work in a few weeks.

Since getting her initial layoff notice, Fess has been scrolling LinkedIn late at night worrying about what kinds of jobs might be available. She’s still holding out hope that her position won’t be cut in the end, in part because of the “mass exodus of expertise” leaving the agencies.

“That has been years to decades in the making,” she said. “You can’t just build that back.”

For the workers who remain, they’re uneasy knowing they could be cut at any moment, and they’re worried about being able to handle the workload that’s left behind if their co-workers leave their jobs permanently.

Hannah Chakoian is an informatician who works in the division for infectious disease on software used by epidemiologists. Ten people on her team got layoff notices and there’s been no time for a “knowledge transfer,” she said.

“We went from a very deep bench of knowledge, and now we have one person who knows this stuff and is trying to teach everybody,” she said.

“That person might no longer be a part of our team in a few weeks.”

Jeremy Olson of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.

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