More than 1,100 employees at the Epa got notice this week that they were deemed to be on probationary status and alerting they might be fired instantly, according to an e-mail obtained by CNN.

Probationary workers receiving the email have been working at the firm for less than a year. The e-mails began to go out late on Wednesday afternoon, according to an EPA union authorities.

The exact same message will be sent out to other company workforces, a White House official stated. Across the US government, the current information shows there are more than 220,000 staff members on probation.

"As a probationary/trial duration employee, the agency has the right to right away end you pursuant to 5 CFR § 315.804," the EPA email to probationary staff members reads. "The process for probationary removal is that you get a notification of termination, and your employment is ended instantly."

"Each staff member's status will be identified individually," the e-mail adds.

The e-mail also define an appeals procedure employees can take to see if they are eligible for extra security.

The approach resembles how Elon Musk, now a key Trump advisor, handled layoffs when he purchased Twitter - make a brand-new email alias (in this case, notice@epa.gov) and employment then send out mass termination letters to everybody on it.

The US Office of Personnel Management declined to comment, and the White House and EPA did not respond to requests for extra comment.

The EPA union authorities said these probationary workers aren't the same as at-will workers