汉娜·希克曼，现已被解雇的工人消费者金融保护局告诉ABC新闻，过去的四天就像过山车一样。
“这很可怕，”上周二被解雇的希克曼说。“我有一个真正的时刻——前几天我在CVS...我突然想到，几周后我可能就没有健康保险了，这对你打击很大。我认为这强调了一个事实，即我们只是普通的中产阶级，就像我们试图服务的人一样。”
希克曼是华盛顿特区CFPB执法部门的高级诉讼律师。她是成千上万名被称为试用期员工的新员工之一本周被解雇整个联邦政府。这些新员工是在过去一两年内加入联邦政府的，这取决于机构，他们受到的保护较少。
希克曼是一名试用期员工，她在CFPB工作了不到两年，直到周二晚上9点左右，她看到手机上弹出了一份终止通知。
“坦白地说，这令人震惊——不仅对我们，对我们的直接经理也是如此，他们没有被告知会发生这种情况，并在我们收到解雇通知的同时收到通知，因为他们被抄送给了ABC新闻，”希克曼告诉ABC新闻。
大规模裁员给几十名联邦雇员造成了严重伤害，包括教育部、CFPB、退伍军人事务部和其他机构。希克曼强调，上周二是超现实的，因为CFPB的员工上周末已经被告知，他们不能亲自去上班。她的东西还在办公室里。
“这真的很令人震惊，”她说，“尤其是对律师来说，因为我们有职业义务。我有一个案子，我目前正在为局里打官司，突然之间，我被从我们的系统中切断了，这就相当于被护送出大楼并被解雇了。只是，这绝对令人震惊，尤其是我在局里工作期间，没有人担心我的表现。”
自从2月7日那个星期五，埃隆·马斯克的政府效率部来到CFPB总部后，希克曼已经有一个多星期没有进入CFPB了。那天，马斯克发布于X:“CFPB瑞普”
“我们受到亿万富翁的攻击，但我不是亿万富翁，所以，你知道，对我来说，接下来的步骤很可怕。希克曼说:“我正努力集中精力高效地工作，但这是一个可怕的时刻。”。
希克曼说，她认为马斯克正试图“摧毁”由国会发起的机构。但她和她的几个前同事发誓要继续斗争，寻找所有可用的法律选择，因为她说这是公务员应该做的。
“公务员做这项工作是为了争取普通美国人，”她说。“这就是工作。这就是为什么它打算不受党派摇摆的影响。这就是为什么它需要专业的人际技能和经验，这就是为什么这些工作有这些保护措施。我的意思是，我们是每天上班去争取普通人的人。”
根据希克曼的说法，CFPB雇佣了“在金融市场巡逻的警察”。她说，她的工作对于保护公众免受金融市场崩溃、贷款计划和加息的影响至关重要。
“唐纳德·特朗普和埃隆·马斯克可以给他们的律师打电话，”希克曼说。“但普通人不只是有律师可以打电话，这些机构旨在填补这一空白，并确保人们的安全。…对我来说，你知道，这是一种召唤。
“这是我在职业生涯的下一阶段非常热衷于做的事情，”她补充道。“在此之前，我已经在私人诊所工作了15年，这是一种完全不同的做法——在我被解雇之前，这种做法对我来说非常有成就感。”
“没人知道任何事”
本周早些时候，美国广播公司新闻采访了其他几名被解雇的联邦政府试用雇员，他们收到的通知说:“根据你的表现，该机构认为，你没有证明你在该机构的进一步就业将符合公众利益。”
残疾退伍军人切尔西·米尔伯恩说，她周三被教育部通过一份备忘录解雇了，备忘录“没有给出任何具体原因”让她离开。
“我确实很沮丧，”米尔伯恩告诉ABC新闻。“我只从我的团队和领导那里得到过积极的反馈，所以我收到那封电子邮件时非常惊讶。”
周三，教育部一名前联邦学生援助试用者接到一名主管的意外电话，电话那头她在哭泣。主管告诉这位前试用员工:“我听说你被解雇了。”
由于担心影响未来的就业机会，这位不愿透露姓名的人士在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时说，这是“毁灭性的”，他们不知道他们的下一份薪水将从哪里或什么时候来。
“这令人心碎，”这位前雇员说。“当我走到电脑前时，它已经被锁定了。我不能访问任何东西。我还在努力联系人力资源部，想知道我能拿到遣散费吗?我的健康保险福利是什么?什么时候结束?谁也不知道。”
'We're under attack by billionaires': Fired federal workers speak out on terminations
Hanna Hickman, a now-terminated worker for theConsumer Financial Protection Bureau, told ABC News the last four days have been a roller coaster.
"It's scary," said Hickman, who was fired last Tuesday. "I had a real moment -- I was at CVS the other day and ... it kind of came on me all at once that I might not have health insurance in a few weeks, and that really hits you. I think it underscores the fact that we're just regular, middle-class people, just like the people we're trying to serve."
Hickman was senior litigation counsel for the Division of Enforcement at the CFPB in Washington, D.C. She is one of thousands of mostly new employees known as probationary workerslaid off this weekacross the federal government. Those recent hires had joined the federal workforce within the last one to two years, depending on the agency, and have fewer protections.
Hickman was a probationary hire who had been at the CFPB just under two years until Tuesday around 9 p.m., when she saw a termination notice pop up on her phone.
"It was shocking, frankly -- not just to us but to our direct managers, who had not been told this would happen and received notice of the terminations at the same time we did because they were CC'd," Hickman told ABC News.
The mass layoffs havewreaked havoc on scores of federal employees, including at the Department of Education, the CFPB, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other agencies. Hickman stressed that last Tuesday was surreal because CFPB employees had already been told last weekend that they could not show up to work in person. Her belongings are still inside the bureau.
"It's really a shock," she said, "especially for a lawyer because we have professional obligations. I have a case that I'm currently litigating for the bureau, and all of a sudden, I'm cut off from our systems, and it's the equivalent of being escorted out of the building and fired. It's just, it's absolutely shocking, especially when there have been no concerns about my performance during my time at the bureau."
Hickman hasn't been inside the CFPB in over a week since that Friday, Feb. 7, when Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency descended on the CFPB headquarters. That day, Muskposted on X: "CFPB RIP."
"We're under attack by billionaires, but I'm not a billionaire, so, you know, for me, the next steps are scary. I'm trying to stay focused working productively, but it's a scary moment," Hickman said.
Hickman said she believes Musk is attempting to "destroy" the agency started by Congress. But she and several of her former colleagues vowed to continue fighting, looking into all available legal options, because she said that's what civil servants do.
"Civil servants do this work to fight for regular Americans," she said. "That's what the job is. That's why it's intended to be insulated from partisan swings. That's why it requires expert people skills and experience, and that's why there are these protections around the jobs. I mean, we are people who go to work every day to fight for regular people."
CFPB employs the "cops on the beat for the financial market," according to Hickman. She said her job was critical to safeguarding the public from financial market crashes, loan schemes and hiked interest rates.
"Donald Trump and Elon Musk can just call their lawyers," Hickman said. "But regular people don't just have a lawyer they can call, and these agencies are intended to fill that gap and to keep people safe. … For me, this was, you know, a calling.
"It was something that I felt really passionate about doing in this next phase of my career," she added. "I've been in private practice for 15 years before this, and this is just a whole different type of practice -- and one that was incredibly fulfilling for me before I was terminated."
"Nobody knows anything"
Earlier this week, ABC News spoke to several other federal government probationary employees who had been fired by receiving notices that said: "The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest."
Chelsea Milburn, a disabled veteran, said she was fired on Wednesday from the Department of Education via a memo that "didn't give any specific reasons as to why" she was let go.
"I was definitely upset," Milburn told ABC News. "I've only ever gotten positive feedback from my team and leadership, so I was pretty surprised to get that email."
A former Federal Student Aid probationary hire at the Department of Education received an unexpected call on Wednesday from a supervisor who was on the other line crying. The supervisor told the former probationary employee: "I'm getting word that you've been terminated."
The person, who spoke with ABC News on the condition of anonymity for fear of it affecting future employment opportunities, said it is "devastating" and they don't know where, or when, their next paycheck will come from.
"It was heartbreaking," the former employee said. "When I went up to my computer, it was already locked down. I couldn't access anything. I'm still trying to reach out to HR to find out, do I get a severance package? What is my health insurance benefits? When does it end? Nobody knows anything."
