The Montana Department of Labor and Industry has set up a “Rapid Response Event” to help the hundreds of Montanans who were recently fired in a mass federal workforce reduction find new jobs.
In a Friday morning press release, the agency said it set up the event, scheduled for March 12, to “guide affected workers back into the workforce.” Impacted workers who attend the event can also receive assistance filing unemployment insurance claims.
“Montanans — whether loggers, miners, store clerks or federal employees — deserve a strong partner to help them navigate the uncertainty of a layoff,” DLI Commissioner Sarah Swanson said in the statement. “Our team is here to listen, build a plan and provide the tools needed to get Montanans back to work. Job loss isn’t the end of the road, it’s a turning point, and MTDLI is committed to making workforce transitions as smooth and successful as impossible — one worker at a time.”
During the event, in-person assistance will be available to those who go to any of the state’s 18 Job Services offices. DLI employees will help interested attendees search for jobs, sharpen their resumes, improve their interview skills, and access education and skill-building resources. The event will also include access to online resources and an option for to a virtual presentation.
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‘A cascading effect’: Forest Service, Park Service workers who lost jobs amid mass layoffs explain rippling fallout
Federal workers across several agencies are losing their jobs at a breakneck pace. In Montana, Wyoming and Idaho — across Greater Yellowstone and beyond — employees with the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and more are concerned their positions may be on the chopping block. The layoffs are coming fast from the Trump administration at the direction of its Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by billionaire and Tesla founder Elon Musk.
Workers who received generic dismissal letters for their termination have expressed concern about their ability to draw unemployment benefits due to the performance-related reasoning cited in those letters. Many federal workers who’ve been laid off have balked at the assertion that their job performance was lacking, arguing that they have evaluations and merit-based awards to demonstrate their competence.
In a follow-up phone interview, Swanson said the department will review each unemployment claim it receives on a “case-by-case basis.”
Swanson said she’d like more communication between DLI and the federal workers, the agencies they worked for and the unions that represent them. DLI is committed to handling claims quickly, Swanson said, adding that it typically takes a few weeks to process an unemployment application.
The department’s response to these layoffs has been more challenging than other mass layoffs it has mobilized to address due to limited information on the front end, Swanson said, giving the Sibanye Stillwater downsizing and the Pyramid Lumber Mill closure as examples of job losses that were easier to address.
“We are committed to doing just as much of an aggressive [response] for these workers,” Swanson continued. “I encourage all of those impacted to come to the rapid response event, or to reach out to the Department of Labor in the meantime.”
Federal workforce shake-ups have generated multiple lawsuits. Last week Christopher Cooper, a federal judge in the District of Columbia, to a coalition of unions representing federal employees when he found that the fired employees should raise their claims with a federal labor board instead.
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USFS: ‘Talented individuals’ laid off from agency will find ‘countless’ opportunities outside of government
Montana’s largest land manager is laying off 360 Montana-based federal employees. A spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service said the agency is “confident that talented individuals” impacted by the staffing reduction will have “many opportunities to contribute to our economy and society in countless ways outside of government.”
The unions argued that approach will be slow and resource-intensive due to the sheer number of employees who’ve been fired. Six federal employees who’ve made their case with the Merit Systems Protection Board have .
In a filed by federal worker unions and later joined by civic groups, a federal district court judge in San Francisco deemed the firings illegal and ordered the federal government to rescind the Office of Personnel Management outlining the workforce reduction.
According to , the order does not cover every agency with employees who lost their positions — just those that intersect with the civic group plaintiffs, which include veterans groups and conservation groups such as Western Watersheds Project and Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.
According to the filed by the National Federation of Federal Employees in the Washington, D.C., district court, the employment of 220,000 “probationary employees” — those who are only a year or two into their current position — is vulnerable due to the workforce reduction initiative led by tech billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk.
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