Ethan Marcotte, who is one of the most principled and thoughtful people I have ever known and also a dear friend, has resigned from his job at 18F after being asked to meet with shadowy gov-dismantlers. The whole post is worth reading.
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/leaving-18f/
Apparently necessary: Do not be an asshole in my replies about something you’d didn’t even bother to read or understand, this is not Facebook.
@kissane People need to stop resigning. Say no to their Nazi bullshit, make them fire you (and put their reasons on paper), then collect unemployment and find a lawyer. They WANT you to quit.
@violenteastcoastcity People need better reading comprehension and an understanding of the relevant labor law.
@kissane Can you say more about the law you’re referencing? I read the whole post and have been tracking this issue, and I don’t see what you’re talking about.
Are you saying that because Ethan was probationary it didn’t make a difference?
@b_cavello The argument I will paraphrase as “Stay and make them fire you and then collect unemployment, duh” is just detached from reality on multiple levels. Federal employees are being fired for insubordination/misconduct for the faintest non-compliance, and few jurisdictions pay unemployment in misconduct cases. Probationary employees are already on the block, and even union-protected workers are being illegally fired over made-up “performance” complaints.
@kissane Fwiw, from what I’ve heard from people working in the govt right now, there aren’t (m)any cases of people “being fired for insubordination/misconduct for the faintest non-compliance.” Maybe that’s a sampling error on my part, but I think that it could be harmful to overrepresent the frequency as it stokes a culture of fear. Proving misconduct is a burden on the employer. I think it’s overly dismissive to say that critiques are disconnected from the reality, tbh.
@b_cavello Maybe? I don’t have real counts—I doubt anyone does right now—but there’s been coverage of insubordination firings, along with thousands of “performance” firings of probationary workers. I’m sure there are people who are in a position to fight a long fight, but not everyone is. (Of course if you think there’s no situation in which it’s appropriate to resign, that’s your prerogative. As it’s mine to refuse to engage with the ruder expressions of that.)
@kissane Tbh, I haven't seen coverage of a single insubordination firing. Can you share what you've seen? Maybe I've missed.
Not insubordination but I heard one story of a so-called performance dismissal of a probationary employee this morning:
"I was being let go for performance and for not meeting the mission of the agency. … I had no performance reviews."
Department of Agriculture employee reacts after he was fired on Presidents Day.
@cwilcox808 @kissane Oh yeah, lots of people are getting fired using a form email re: “performance,” but that’s kinda… well, fake for one, but also not about their behavior.
Like if the argument is that people should stay and push back more, these types of firings aren’t a counterpoint. If anything, it’s like “people are getting fired REGARDLESS so might as well try to push back.”
It’s always easier to say than do, but it is also the case that we NEED people to try.
@b_cavello Beyond the labor laws: Even heads of major agency divisions are resigning, loudly, because they know they can make a bigger difference going loud than getting axed. And staying on and remaining silent is over the line for many. (I’m sure you know this! I’m just making the connection.)
There’s no simple or single answer here and I think we benefit more from careful thinking about specifics than from scorn and demands based on cartoony oversimplification. 
@kissane @b_cavello also please consider the mental health impacts of this kind of psychological warfare in your workplace. It’s trauma, and it’s intentional. There’s only so much some people can take.
@onthelevel @kissane That is absolutely true. It is designed that way. You’re absolutely right.
I think it makes sense if people are like “I need to leave,” but what I see is people being like “this is on principle” or that resigning is a form of resistance, an I think it’s fair to question that strategy.