Department offices purchased shut down till Thursday
Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is deadline to send prepare for massive layoffs
(Adds brand-new federal government report on improper payments, paragraphs 12-14)
By Timothy Gardner, Tim Reid, Alexandra Alper and Marisa Taylor
WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Education stated on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump's due date to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.
The terminations belong to the department's "last objective," it said in a press release, pointing to Trump's vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department's dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated "yes," including that doing so "was the president's mandate." The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.
Before announcing the layoffs, the firm bought workplaces in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security issues triggering the closures.
Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against unethical lenders.
The layoffs are the latest step in Trump's sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world's richest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, regardless of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.
DOGE's blunt-force approach has actually annoyed several White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually challenged upset constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public relocation to restrain the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. federal government companies have been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several agencies have actually used workers payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's need.
Affected Education Department workers will be put on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department stated.
The union representing more than 2,800 department employees said it would combat the "exorbitant cuts."
"What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the countless workers who have committed their careers to serve their fellow Americans," said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.
Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just openly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by mistakes.
The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The huge bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The total inappropriate payments figure was down sharply from 2023's $236 billion, the GAO stated.
EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS
Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who accept leave their jobs. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Fda.
The buyout offers, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, human resources specialists at several federal firms told Reuters.
The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.
The General Services Administration, which handles the government's home portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for remark outside of U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently offered benefits of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.
Personnels and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government job within 5 years.
Only a couple of firms have telegraphed the number of employees they prepare to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.
OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to respond.
On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.
Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark beyond normal U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
