Fired National Park Service employees make plans for class-action lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO - A group of employees who were terminated from the National Park Service last week are making plans to file class action lawsuits. The federal hiring freeze enacted via executive order by President Donald Trump is heavily impacting the Department of the Interior. 

‘Absolutely insane’

What they're saying:

The department fired thousands of employees last week, and it could cause big problems for national parks.  

Olek Chmura was hired as a custodian with the NPS in Yosemite last year. Since then, he’s spent his time doing a very dirty job: cleaning up things like excrement and trash around the park.

"The last five days have been absolutely insane. The first couple days…I’ve never cried more in my entire life. I felt like my world was swept out from under my feet. Just feeling really hopeless and gutted," Chmura tells KTVU. 

Chmura earns just $40,000 dollars each year before taxes for the work he does. That pay doesn’t go very far in California. 

"I don’t make enough to live in nearby communities. So, what you’re looking at is my housing, my truck that I live in the back of…I do it because I feel so strongly about the park idea. This is one of America's most beautiful ideas that has been tried to be replicated all over the world," Chmura says. 

Chmura’s termination letter says "the Department determined  that  you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because your subject matter, knowledge, skills and abilities do not meet the Department’s current needs…"

Personnel documents obtained by KTVU tell a different story. Chmura’s performance review from last year says he exceeds expectations in every area of his role. 

Chmura says a big concern after the firings is safety. 

"This is going to be a threat to the American people…Yosemite is a gigantic wilderness, and if you get hurt out there—I’m not trying to fear monger—but the reality is you might have to depend on volunteers to come and get you, if they are available," Chmura tells KTVU. 

Mass firings could trigger substantial economic blowback

Dig deeper:

An expert from George Washington university tells KTVU that mass firings across the national park system could also have a larger economic impact on businesses nearby, particularly in a place like Yosemite. 

"[Yosemite] contributes $624 million to the local economy, 6000 jobs…that’s gonna impact search and rescue, that's gonna impact fire prevention, trash pickup, people aren't going to be able to get permits. People are gonna be unsafe, they are also gonna be unsure, they may not go" Peter Loge, George Washington University said. "So they'll make other vacation plans, they'll go somewhere else, which will hurt the local economy."

Loge says cutting employees from the NPS system may not help to balance budget. 

"You're not gonna balance the federal budget on the backs of people making minimum wage maintaining trails in Yosemite National Park," he said. "The federal budget is a big and complicated beast…virtually none if it is national parks."

Chmura says though it has been a difficult week, he's grateful for the way the NPS community is banding together after the firings. 

"I have never felt more connected than I have in the past couple days. So many people have offered me their homes, I have been connected to so many people across this park," Chmura said. "I have had friends who are on the other side of the aisle politically reach out to me and they say, ‘This is wrong, this should have never happened to you, I can’t believe this is happening to you. I'm writing my representatives,'" Chmura said.