Chicago IRS specialists, engineers among those cut in federal workforce reduction

CHICAGO (WGN) — The nearly 6,700 probationary Internal Revenue Service employees terminated Thursday include a significant number of specialists, engineers and economists who worked in the Chicago office, one former employee told WGN.

Vanessa Marie Rollins said she worked in a civil engineering role for more than a dozen years before joining the IRS last July.

“Our role was to support the revenue agents in auditing large corporations and international high wealth individuals,” she said. “I was happy to do this work. I was happy to serve my country.”

Rollins said she was hired in the wake of Biden administration efforts to modernize the under-resourced agency and more efficiently go after people and corporations not paying their fair share of taxes. But she says she “knew something was brewing” when job cuts at other federal agencies pushed by the Trump administration sparked protests like one at Federal Plaza on Presidents Day.

---

---

Then the emails arrived at the local IRS office. The subject line read: “Notification of Termination During Probationary Period.”

“On Wednesday afternoon I received an email saying that I need to be in the office on Thursday and to be sure to bring in all my government-supplied equipment,” she said. “It was such a sad affair. I wasn’t the only one crying in the elevator that morning.”

For Rollins, the news couldn’t have come at a worse time. She learned last year that she was living with cancer.

“I’ve had a lot of challenges,” Rollins said.

---

---

At a roundtable on the city’s North Side, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Chicago) vowed to push back on drastic job cuts and other executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.

“There is a litigation strategy to be had, both on the inside of Congress, from our committees, but also on the outside, through the state’s attorney’s general as well as well as not-for-profit organizations,” he told the gathered elected officials and community and labor leaders.

But lawsuits take time, and as Rollins grieves the loss of a job she loved, she’s faced with looking for health insurance options.

“It’s very expensive,” she said.

WGN has reached out to the White House and IRS officials for comment. We have not received a response from Washington.

---

If you’ve been impacted by federal workforce reduction efforts and would like to speak with a WGN reporter, please supply your contact information and a brief message below: