Minnesota business leader among thousands of federal workers axed in Trump cuts

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: This is our top story this afternoon. As the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, looks to drastically downsize the government, many federal workers have begun receiving layoff notices. Thousands of probationary employees who haven't been in their jobs long enough to qualify for certain protections have been terminated by federal agencies around the country, including here in Minnesota. One of these federal employees that was recently laid off is Chris Wicker.

For the last eight months, he's worked as the deputy director of the Minnesota District Office for the United States Small Business Administration. He joins the program now. Thank you for talking with us today, Chris. I really appreciate it.

CHRIS WICKER: Good afternoon. Thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: I appreciate you sharing your story because this is really personal to people. This is your job and your livelihood and something you are very passionate about. For starters, could you tell me a little bit about what your role was within the SBA?

CHRIS WICKER: Yeah. So as the deputy director, I was the number two at the Small Business Administration for administering programs and services by the SBA across the state of Minnesota. In my role as the program manager, I was responsible for quality control, managing the staff, and really interfacing with all of our partners throughout the state.

NINA MOINI: Did you like that work?

CHRIS WICKER: I loved that work. I actually was working in the private sector before this in a family financial firm. And this was the opportunity that I had been waiting for.

I love small business. I used to own a small business, and all I wanted to do was give back. And when this position came available, I jumped at the chance. This was my lucky break.

NINA MOINI: I'm sorry to hear that. Would you walk us through the timeline as well? It was a bit unusual, right, how you found out that you were being fired essentially?

CHRIS WICKER: Yeah. Losing your job is a difficult experience all by itself. But two Fridays ago, late at night, 7:30 in the evening, my work email received an email that said kind of blankly, please see the attachment for an update on your employment status.

And the attachment was really a letter that almost looked like it had been copied from a Word document and dropped into a PDF. And it just said, in almost cruel terms, that your performance makes you unfit for public service. And you have two weeks to clear out of your job.

So I didn't see this until the very next morning. I called my boss. I was sad and desperate and looking for what to do. And so on Monday, when we all returned to work, I proceeded with my two weeks notice.

And later that day, I was in a management meeting. And somebody told us in that meeting, hey, if you received one of these notices, you can disregard, it's been rescinded. So it was almost celebratory in my office.

I was able to stay. My boss was able to keep working with me. I love my coworkers. I'm a big fan of the supervisor that I had, the district director here. And just 24 hours later, as I was sitting there working, another email dropped.

And it said again, please see the attachment. That attachment seemed much more formal, letterhead signed by the acting administrator. And it said you're terminated close of business today.

It was 4:30 in the evening. So I had no choice but to close my laptop. And that was the end.

NINA MOINI: Have you been in contact with your fellow colleagues there who still have work? And how do you foresee this impacting them and their workloads?

CHRIS WICKER: I have been in touch with my colleagues. And I have to say, my experience with the Small Business Administration as an agency remains positive. I loved my coworkers. I never met anybody who wasn't fully committed to the mission and to the community work. But as a human being, I'm sitting here wondering what I'm going to do next and how this is going to impact any future job opportunities I have. Because in a moment, I was unemployed.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, that is so tough. And then it impacts your colleagues. And how do you see this also impacting Minnesotans and small business owners across the state who we know have been struggling a lot ever since the pandemic started?

CHRIS WICKER: For sure. So you can imagine an SBA district office as the focal point between a big national level federal agency and the local communities that utilize those programs and services. We're really great at translating that into what matters most for Minnesotans. And even as the news was changing every single day, we always never changed our priorities of working in these communities.

And so what happens when an agency like that loses program managers or essential staff, it starts to create delays and interruptions in the kinds of experiences that business owners don't need to be dealing with while they're focusing on feeding their families, growing their businesses, and paying their employees. That should be priority number one.

NINA MOINI: The subtext-- President Trump made promises during the election that he was really going to dive in and see, are we being efficient as a country with how people are being hired and where resources are being spent? And the subtext is there's way too many people, and they're just sitting around, and they're not doing much. And you talked about this quote in your letter, "because you have failed to demonstrate fitness for continued federal employment." How does it feel to read that?

CHRIS WICKER: Well, first of all, that hurts my feelings just as a human being. Second of all, I'm a military veteran. I served in the Air Force on active duty. When your superior tells you that you're not accomplishing what you're supposed to be, that strikes a really, really deep chord.

Like I said, this was my passion project. This was my dream job. I know I didn't fail. I know that my community, my supervisor, and my colleagues were happy with my work. And so to see that written on paper as the reason I can't do the thing that I love to do anymore, that creates a level of cruelty to this that I really, really was not expecting.

NINA MOINI: It's been striking to hear from so many people in roles like yours, who, in fact, do have such an immense passion for what they're doing, and it is so personal to them. May I ask if you want to pursue any type of legal action? Or would you want this job back? Or do you just feel like it's time to pivot and find a new dream?

CHRIS WICKER: I definitely am feeling on both sides of that argument. It's my understanding that as a probationary employee, I have limited legal recourses that I can take, as that is the nature of probationary employment.

I've been an employer before, and I've had people in probationary periods. That said, I've never used the probationary period in this manner before, nor would I. So do I have that option? Yes.

Am I over it? I'll never be over helping small businesses. But this door feels like it's been slammed pretty hard shut on me.

NINA MOINI: So what are you going to be doing with your time moving forward?

CHRIS WICKER: Well, the first thing that any unemployed person does is they start scrambling, especially when it comes with no notice like this. I have spent a flurry of time reaching out to my friends in the community to let them know of my situation and to see what opportunities are out there where I might be able to help. I have been pursuing other employment opportunities.

I'm going to continue to do that because, as I've really been consistently saying throughout this, this work isn't done. It's not going to be done. And my place in it isn't over yet either.

NINA MOINI: And just can I ask, Chris, why that you felt that it was important to speak out about your experience? A lot of employees, it's a personal choice to put yourself out there like this. Why did you feel like it was the right thing to do for you?

CHRIS WICKER: I've heard a lot of chatter. I shouldn't be on social media. And I should spend less time there. But I've heard a lot of chatter about these faceless bureaucrats that are lazily teleworking from some tropical island.

And I believe so firmly that every single person that I have worked with has been a dedicated, passionate public servant. They are not the people that have been described. I am not the kind of person that was described. And we are here to do this work. And that's really, really important to me that those people have a voice.

NINA MOINI: Well, Chris, I'm wishing you the very best. We hope that you'll keep us up to speed on what happens next for you. And thank you for your service.

CHRIS WICKER: Thank you, ma'am. Thank you for your time.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. That was Chris Wicker, the former deputy director of the Minnesota District Office for the US Small Business Administration.