WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — WPTV is tracking the turmoil in the federal workforce amid job cuts and how it's impacting people here in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
The Department of Veterans Affairs told WPTV chief investigator Jamie Ostroff that it's planning to cut tens of thousands of jobs from its payroll.
WATCH BELOW: Former VA employee describes morale as 'absolutely horrible'
We learned that some local VA workers have chosen not to wait to see if they'll be let go.
All of this comes after Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) outlined federal spending cuts shortly after President Donald Trump took office earlier this year.
Musk announced this week he's leaving the Trump team but vowed Friday that the cuts will continue.
"The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time," Musk said during a Friday news conference in the Oval Office. "The DOGE influence will only grow stronger."
Those cuts included massive reductions to the federal workforce, impacting people like David Pasquino of Hobe Sound.
WPTV has been following Pasquino's journey since February, when he was let go from his job at Veterans Affairs.
Pasquino traveled to Washington, D.C., in March to meet with members of Congress and fight for displaced federal workers.
Later that month, he got his job back following a court order that blocked the layoffs.
On Friday, WPTV contacted Pasquino to see how he was doing after learning that the VA planned to cut 15% of its workforce.
"Today was actually the day that I turned in all of my government-furnished equipment," Pasquino. "As of Sunday, I will be on administrative leave until Sept. 30."
Pasquino said he has accepted an offer for deferred resignation.
"It was not an easy decision, especially after as hard as I fought," Pasquino said.
WPTV contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs to learn more about the reduction in employees.
VA Press Secretary Peter Kasperowicz said in an email that it is currently reviewing all departments within the agency, intending to cut the workforce to about 398,000 employees, down from its current level of roughly 470,000.
"Our goal is to increase productivity, eliminate waste and bureaucracy, increase efficiency, and improve health care and benefits to Veterans," Kasperowicz said in an email. "We're going to maintain VA's mission-essential jobs like doctors, nurses and claims processors, while phasing out non-mission essential roles like DEI officers. The savings we achieve will be redirected to Veteran health care and benefits."
Pasquino, a disabled veteran, said the agency is not what it used to be.
"The VA that I joined a year ago is not the VA that exists today, and not a good way," Pasquino said.
He said he noticed changes at the VA — as an employee and as a patient — since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year.
"I talked with nurses. I talked with doctors ... and they all say the same thing, that they're overwhelmed, they're understaffed," Pasquino said.
"What was morale like in those two or so months that you were actually back and working for the VA?" Ostroff asked Pasquino.
"Horrible, absolutely horrible," Pasquino responded. "We lived every day in fear of the unknown. We dreaded getting up and logging in, wondering if we were going to get a reduction-in-force notice."
He discussed more about his decision to leave the agency.
"I would not be able to sleep well at night, nor look at myself in the mirror knowing that I was furthering a cause that was detrimental to veterans and their care and their family's care," Pasquino said.
In his email, Kasperowicz didn't give a timeframe for when more workers will be cut from the VA.
