Mass layoffs by the Internal Revenue Service across the country impacted dozens of workers in Denver on Thursday.
The IRS was planning to lay off roughly 7,000 workers in Washington and around the country, a person familiar with the plans told The Associated Press.
Thousands of federal government employees have been shown the door in the first month of President Donald Trump’s administration as the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency fire both new and career workers, tell agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force” and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funds.
It is affecting more than just the national capital region, home to about 20% of the 2.4 million members of the civilian federal workforce, which does not include military personnel and postal workers. More than 80% of that workforce lives outside the Washington area.
Father of three Donald McCorvey, 41, worked at the Denver IRS office for 11 months as a contact representative for The Small Business/Self-Employed Department.
He had was 20 days away from his probationary period ending.
McCorvey said employees first learned of the layoffs through the news, but the details were confirmed with a termination email sent that morning. However, most staff did not see the email because they were locked out of their systems.
“You know your heart drops. It races through your head, like, how am I going to support my family? I can just imagine what other people are feeling who also have families that need support or mortgages they need to pay,” McCorvey said.
Jodie Malito, 54, was also a contact representative who was laid off Thursday. She began working with the IRS in July 2024 and was shocked when she first heard about the layoffs on the news.
Now she is unsure of how she will pay for her mortgage and other needs.
“Oh, my God, I could be evicted from my home for not paying my mortgage. I can’t afford it,” she said. “I’m scrambling for another job, because I know unemployment is not going to cut it.”
Malito worked in office five days a week and said she chose to work for the IRS to escape the strain of juggling two jobs.
She said she worries she may have to go back to working two jobs.
The Post spoke with several employees who were laid off, and they revealed that on Wednesday, they were instructed to return their equipment the next morning.
One employee noted that they had just received their equipment the week prior. Another said they were being let go because of poor performance.
“I think it’s ridiculous that people are getting let go who have great work records, or, you know, they’re being let go under the guise of, what is it called, poor performance at work, when that’s not the case,” McCorvey said.
The layoffs impact probationary employees with roughly one year or less of service at the agency and largely include workers in compliance departments, according to the person, who was not authorized to disclose the plans and spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday.
Compliance work includes ensuring that taxpayers are abiding by the tax code, filing their returns and paying their taxes, among other duties.
The IRS leases 125,000 square feet of office space in Denver, accounting for nearly a fifth of the total at the 1999 Broadway tower, according to the General Services Administration. They rank third after the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the amount of space the federal government leases in Denver County.
The IRS has roughly 90,000 employees across the United States, according to the latest IRS data. Racial minorities make up 56% of the IRS workforce, and women represent 65%.
The IRS did not respond to the Post for comment regarding the layoffs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.