At least 100 IRS workers laid off in Kansas City metro Thursday, more cuts possible

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - On Thursday, layoffs began at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Taxpayer Assistance Center in downtown Kansas City, as well as at offices in Overland Park, Kansas, and Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The local union representing workers said this could be the start of many layoffs in the coming days.

The IRS employs just over 6,000 workers in downtown Kansas City. At least 100 were laid off on Thursday and the local union representing these workers anticipates more layoffs, possibly up to 1,000.

These firings are due to the Trump istration and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to downsize the federal government.

“They were like, ‘Hey come in tomorrow and turn all your stuff in you’re no longer with us,’” said former Kansas City IRS Tax Examiner, Liv Alvarado.

Alvarado got that phone call on Wednesday night and came into the office on Thursday.

Some got an email that told them to come into the office on Thursday with all of their government-issued equipment. It didn’t have any mention of a layoff until the employees were in the office.

This week, the office has been filled with anxiety with the layoff rumors swirling.

“It’s a bunch of, well am I going to have a job tomorrow? Am I not going to have a job tomorrow? It wasn’t very fun, it is very weird in there, very weird in there,” said Alvarado.

She was just three weeks away from completing her one-year probationary period, and because of this, she said she won’t receive severance pay.

“I wish it would have been handled a lot better than it was. I wish they would have looked at performance and not just the date I started,” said Alvarado.

She works in the Small Business/Self-Employed (SBSE) division.

“These employees correct tax returns, they do some of the auditing, they do collections,” said NTEU Chapter 66 President, Shannon Ellis.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Chapter 66 in Kansas City is trying to those affected the best they can.

They are encouraging anyone who was laid off to print off their pay stubs and personal records.

“We are going to have to learn to do more with less and that is hard for any organization to do,” said NTEU Chapter 66 1st Vice President, Daniel Scharpenburg.

Ellis said this could affect many programs that receive IRS funding.

“The revenue that is collected from the Internal Revenue Service funds like 94 different programs such as WIC, food stamps, and school lunches and programs like that that everyday Americans need and depend on,” said Ellis. She added, “It might not be an immediate impact at this moment on the taxpayer if this is the only side of the house that they are removing, once they start attacking the probationary employees on the taxpayer services side then we are talking about not being able to process actual returns so this could tie up taxpayers information for quite a while.”

Ellis said they are already understaffed and underfunded.

“For this to happen right before tax season is just unacceptable,” said Ellis.

Alvarado and many others are now looking into unemployment as they figure out their next step.

“I’m sure no one wants to deal with the IRS so the fact that there is going to be even less workers here now -- stuff is going to take even longer and these were real people with real jobs,” said Alvarado.

“We are not numbers on the spreadsheet we are real people being harmed, and even just those of us who are not being terminated just the anxiety around this is enough to really mess up our lives,” said Scharpenburg. “We have families, we have bills to pay, we are a big part of the Kansas City economy and when the IRS is hurt in Kansas City, it hurts the whole city.”

Kansas City U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D) released a statement after the layoffs started.

“As President Trump and Elon Musk work to gut the federal workforce so that billionaires like them have an easier time ripping off the American people, the relentless harassment of federal employees nationwide has now led to the reckless firing of nearly 1,000 civil servants in the Kansas City region.

“This shockingly shortsighted decision to let go of hundreds of committed public servants will not only leave these patriotic Americans hanging out to dry, but it will undermine essential services that Missourians rely on in the middle of tax season, while creating a cascading negative impact on our region’s economy. Considering that investments in the IRS have proven to increase revenue and cut down on our federal deficit, recouping $12 for every $1 spent on auditing the wealthiest 10% of Americans, the only logical conclusion is that this is all being done so that billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk have an easier time cheating on their taxes.

“I condemn this sinful decision to terminate the employment of nearly 1,000 hardworking Kansas Citians for no reason other than gluttonous greed. As this action is inevitably litigated in federal courts, I will continue to use every lever available to these civil servants and put an end to this extraordinarily damaging chaos,”

• U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D)

KCTV5 reached out to the IRS about these layoffs but did not hear back as of Thursday afternoon.

The NTEU Chapter 66 is holding a rally in of federal workers on March 15 from 12-2 p.m. across the street from the IRS building in downtown Kansas City.

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